FILE PHOTO: Soccer Football - Champions League - Round of 16 - Second Leg - Atletico Madrid v Inter Milan - Metropolitano, Madrid, Spain - March 13, 2024 Inter Milan's Francesco Acerbi scores a penalty during the shoot-out REUTERS/Violeta Santos Moura/File Photo
MILAN (Reuters) -Inter Milan defender Francesco Acerbi has been cleared of a charge of racially insulting Napoli's Juan Jesus in a Serie A game, an Italian football league judge ruled on Tuesday.
Judge Gerardo Mastrandrea said in the ruling seen by Reuters that an investigation had failed to reach "the minimum level of reasonable certainty as to the discriminatory content of the offence", and Acerbi was not sanctioned in any way.
Napoli said they were "astonished" by the decision.
"Napoli will no longer take part in merely decorative initiatives by soccer institutions against racism and discrimination; we will continue to address them alone, as we have always done, with renewed conviction and determination," the club said in a statement.
Acerbi left the national team training camp on March 18 following the alleged incident the day before and was replaced by AS Roma's Gianluca Mancini.
The incident occurred during a 1-1 draw between Serie A leaders Inter Milan and seventh-placed Napoli. Jesus complained to the referee and later said that Acerbi had apologised. Acerbi denied having used any racist language.
(Reporting by Emilio Parodi and Crispian Balmer, Editing by Hugh Lawson and Toby Davis)
