UEFA Charges Roma Over ‘Monkey Chants’ At Chelsea’s Antonio Rudiger

European football governing body UEFA, have charged A.S. Roma fans with making racist ‘monkey chats’ aimed at Chelsea defender Antonio Rudiger on Wednesday’s Champions League clash.

Rudiger who is a German international came on as a 77th-minute substitute during Champions League Group C tie which ended 3-3 at Stamford Bridge.

The 24-year-old defender, left Roma for Chelsea in July, having previously expressed his frustration at a failure to tackle racist incidents which saw him target.

The case will be dealt with by UEFA’s control, ethics and disciplinary body on 16 November, the governing body said in a statement.

The statement reads: “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 travels to Rome in Ten days to face the Italian side hoping to avoid a repeat of Wednesday night game, as the Blues narrowly escaped defeat.