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Wenger - Don’t walk off due to racism

Arsene Wenger insists walking off the pitch in protest at racist chants is not the best way to combat the problem.

A number of Tottenham fans were reportedly subjected to abuse during Thursday evening’s Europa League clash at Inter Milan.

 While Wenger expressed his disgust at the incidents, he says there are better solutions than simply withdrawing from games.

“The answer is not just to walk off,” he said. “It looks to be a recurring problem in Italy when English teams play there and it’s not acceptable.

“I don’t think that walking off the pitch is the right answer. You have to isolate people who do that and punish them.

“If you walk off, you have no game anymore. When their team is losing, anybody could start racist chants and you basically get them to master the situation.

“To ban them from football or ban the clubs if you can prove they do not punish their racist fans is a better answer.”

Uefa has been criticised for its handling of racist incidents in recent years, but Wenger insists the game has made significant strides forward.

“Honestly, I don’t know well enough what they do. They came out many times to fight against it,” he said. “Do we do enough? I don’t know. I think it’s got better.

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“If I compare the time when I played and today, we have made big improvements but there’s still some work to do and there’s always the possibility of setbacks.”

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