John Mensah blasts Italian federation over Sulley Muntari's racist abuse

Former Ghana captain John Mensah is the latest key figure to lash out at the Italian federation for its pathetic failure to arrest racist abuse in the European country following recent attack on Ghanaian star Sulley Muntari.

Muntari, who plays for struggling Seria A side Pescara, suffered racial abuse from Cagliari fans during a league match last Sunday.

The Italian football authorities were forced to knock back on an earlier decision to punish the Ghanaian with a one-match ban for walking off the pitch.

The sporting world united behind the Ghana international, forcing a reversal of the decision.

And the retired Ghana international, who enjoyed spells at Italian side Genoa, Chievo, Modena and Cremonese has lashed out at the Italian football authorities over the incident.

“Italy is a big nation when it comes to football, there have come a long way in football, so they should have known better,” he told TV3.

“They have been to the World Cup several times and won the World Cup several times and for them to be still involved in racial abuse in this era is just not right.

“The supporters could have done better considering the pedigree of Italy in World Football, for a football Nation like that to still be issue out racial assault is bad.”

Muntari was initially booked for dissent, then received a second yellow card for leaving the field.

Serie A, although agreeing that the abuse Muntari received was "deplorable", originally said that it could not impose sanctions on Cagliari because "approximately 10" supporters were involved - fewer than 1% of their supporters in the ground.