Roma have been charged by Uefa after some of their supporters allegedly directed monkey chants at their former defender Antonio Rüdiger during Wednesday’s Champions League match at Chelsea.
The alleged chants were not reported by Chelsea but Uefa was made aware by comments on social media and the London club is willing to assist if required.
Rüdiger appeared in the match as a 77th-minute substitute. The 24-year-old German international left Roma for Chelsea in July, having previously expressed his frustration at a failure to tackle racist incidents which saw him targeted.
A statement from European football’s governing body said: “Disciplinary proceedings have been opened following the Uefa Champions League group stage match between Chelsea FC and AS Roma (3-3), played on 18 October in England.” Uefa said the charge was “racist behaviour [monkey chants]”, adding: “This case will be dealt with by the Uefa control, ethics and disciplinary body on 16 November.”
Before Rüdiger’s departure from Roma, for an initial £29m, he told the German sports magazine SportBild: “Racism is a serious issue here. Incidents like the ones with [Juventus’s Medhi] Benatia and me simply happen too often in this country and that is why something must happen now.
“When the Italian FA is not doing anything then Fifa must act. It is easy to come up with the No to Racism campaign but when you don’t do anything concrete then that does not help.”
Chelsea had taken a 2-0 lead against the Italians on Wednesday before falling 3-2 behind and eventually securing a draw through Eden Hazard’s equaliser.