Linguistic polemics over a discriminatory article in Il Giornale addressed to the Romanian coach Lucescu at Sahtior Donetk

A heated debated was stirred up in the Italian peninsula after Il Gionerale sports editor Michele Brambilla published an article about the Romanian coach Mircea Lucescu and his team, Sahtior Donetk that won the UEFA championship.

On Thursday morning, the Italian journalist named Mircea Lucescu the Romanian gipsy on the technical bench of Sahtior Donetk. The expression stirred up a series of reactions from both Romanians and Italians.

In the same vein, Romania’s Embassy to Rome sent an open letter to the Italian daily accusing it of discriminatory behavior. However, the journalist replied to all comments on Friday in which he quotes important other publications who refer to sportsmen who change teams frequently as gypsies and explains that this is a common expression in Italian and by no means a discriminatory remark.

However, for the Romanian Party in Italy President, Giancarlo Germani, there is no doubt that the article was an offense to the Romanians. Moreover, he underlined that it is common for Il Giornale to take such stands against Romanians each times there is such an opportunity.