After deleting the picture, the club have now issued an official apology claiming that the post “was not meant to cause controversy or have any racial undertones”
Juventus Women have been forced to apologise for a post that appeared to show one of their players making a racist gesture.
The Bianconere are in Barcelona to carry out a training camp which will culminate with a match against the European champions.
However, they have been drawn into controversy after posting a picture on their social media channels which was subsequently deleted.
Cecilia Salvvai appeared in the picture wearing an Asian conical hat and appearing to put her fingers to eyes.
The post immediately drew a huge backlash across Twitter, forcing Juve to delete after 25 minutes.
In a post shortly after, the club said: “We sincerely apologise that our tweet, which was not meant to cause controversy or have any racial undertones, may have offended anyone. Juventus has always been against racism and discrimination. #DifferencesMakeThe Difference”.
The Juventus Women team are the reigning champions in Italy and were one of the first major Italian clubs to set up a women’s team.
Salvai meanwhile has made 26 appearances for the Italian national team and has won three league titles since joining the club in 2017.
Earlier this year Juventus described themselves as being “at the forefront of the fight against discrimination”.
On March 21, the club celebrated the International Day against Racial Discrimination, with all clubs wearing customised numbers that was linked to a statistic linked to racism.
They claimed it was “a perfect opportunity to further reinforce the message of the importance of the fight against racial discrimination and through numbers to provide a snapshot as real as possible of the current situation on the issue as real as possible”.
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