Mike Maignan returns to Udine carrying more than the usual responsibility of Milan’s goalkeeper. More than a thousand days have passed since the night of 20 January 2024, when he stopped play at the Bluenergy Stadium after reporting racist abuse from the stands. His next appearance there comes after another difficult week, in which racist messages were directed at him online by Milan supporters following his sending-off against Bournemouth in the Europa League.
The connection between the two episodes is as troubling as it is clear: racism has not disappeared from football, and it does not belong to one set of colours. In Udine, Maignan said he had been called “a monkey” after repeatedly alerting the fourth official to abuse coming from the home end behind his goal. In the 33rd minute, he left his position, went to Stefano Pioli’s bench and asked his team-mates to leave the pitch.
Referee Fabio Maresca suspended the match, with Milan walking off alongside their goalkeeper. Play resumed after a five-minute stoppage once Pioli had persuaded Maignan to return. Udinese were subsequently ordered to play one match behind closed doors, while the individuals identified as responsible received lifetime bans from the club’s stadium.
Yet the latest abuse arrived from a different direction. After the Bournemouth match, Maignan used social media to explain the circumstances behind his dismissal, which followed a serious mistake in Milan’s European outing. Instead of support, some responses from within the Rossoneri fanbase contained racist insults aimed at their own player.
Udine has offered Maignan little calm since that evening in January 2024. He has played there only once against Udinese after the original incident, returning in April 2025. Home supporters initially greeted him with whistles, although the mood changed after a heavy collision with Jimenez forced the Frenchman off in the 56th minute, when applause replaced the earlier hostility.
His most recent scheduled trip to face Udinese was lost to injury. Maignan had suffered a calf problem six days earlier during a league fixture against Bologna, ruling him out of the visit to Friuli.
He is expected to start in goal at the Bluenergy Stadium this time. For Milan, the visit is another important stop in the season; for Maignan, it is also a return to the place where he made one of the clearest stands against racism in Italian football. After the tension of Bournemouth and the abuse that followed, he will hope the evening is defined only by the match.
