The defender, capped 14 times by Italy, passed away before the side were scheduled to play Udinese on 4 March.

A post-mortem examination revealed cardiac arrest as the most likely cause of death.

Chairman Mario Cognigni told Italian media the training ground will be named “Centro Sportivo Davide Astori”.

Astori, who leaves a wife and two-year-old daughter, came through the youth system at AC Milan before joining Cagliari in 2008.

He spent eight years at the club and had loan spells at Roma and Fiorentina before moving permanently to the latter two years ago.

Astori wore the number 13 shirt at Fiorentina, which was retired by the club. Thousands of fans and representatives of every Serie A club gathered at his funeral on 8 March.

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Source: BBC SPort

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Luciano Spalletti’s side took advantage of Napoli’s 1-0 defeat by title rivals Juventus on Friday to go a point clear at the top.

Perisic had a shot fumbled in, Mauro Icardi slammed home their second and Perisic ran from deep before scoring.

Milan Skriniar made it 4-0 before Perisic’s injury-time third.

Inter visit third-placed Juventus – who would go top with a win – next Saturday (19:45 GMT).

Elsewhere, Benevento earned their first Serie A point thanks to goalkeeper Alberto Brignoli’s injury-time equaliser against AC Milan.

Fiorentina beat Sassuolo 3-0 to move above Milan into seventh. Giovanni Simeone, ex-Aston Villa midfielder Jordan Veretout and Federico Chiesa scored their goals.

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Source: BBC

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Pescara midfielder Muntari, 32, was given a one-game ban after he protested against racist abuse he received from the crowd at Cagliari on Sunday.

The Serie A disciplinary committee said not enough fans took part in the abuse to trigger action against Cagliari.

Donsah, 20, said racism is “killing the beauty of the game”.

Former Ghana international Muntari was booked for dissent after asking the referee to stop Sunday’s match in the wake of the abuse.

He then walked off the pitch in protest – for which officials confirmed he received a second yellow card.

Donsah, who played for Cagliari for two seasons, told BBC World Service Sport Muntari did the “right thing” by walking off and said he will wear an anti-racism message under his shirt.

“I think the authorities need to lift the ban on Sulley Muntari in order to boost the fight against racism in football,” he added.

Garth Crooks, the ex-Tottenham striker and independent trustee of anti-discrimination organisation Kick It Out, has called on players in the Italian league to strike this weekend unless Muntari’s one-match suspension is withdrawn.

“I would do that 100% because racism is something that is killing the game,” added Donsah.

“Some players cutting off from some matches in order to highlight the racial abuse that is going on in football is a great move.”

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Source: BBC

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Mr. Mahama in a tweet said he stood with Muntari.

The Ghanaian left Pescara with 10 men and revealed he was abused by a child who was sitting with his parents.

He took his complaints to referee, Daniele Minelli, who initially ignored him before booking him for dissent in the 89th minute.

This prompted the former Portsmouth and Sunderland player to leave the pitch in protest.

He angrily confronted Cagliari fans, shouting: “This is my colour.”

His actions have been lauded and defended with the head of the United Nations Commission on Human Rights, Zeid Ra’ad Al Hussein, notably backing his protest.

Italian football’s issues with racist abuse have been well documented and Muntari, then at AC Milan, had a first-hand view when fellow Ghanaian, Kevin-Prince Boateng’s walked off the pitch because of racist chanting during a friendly with lower league side, Pro Patria in January 2013.

Muntari has since been suspended by the Serie A’s Disciplinary Commission for walking off, whilst Cagliari avoided any punishment for the racist chants.

Officials at the ground wrote in their report that the racist chants were coming from only around 10 people, thus less than one per cent of the circa 2,000 in the stadium.

They also noted it was only audible because the rest of the supporters were staging a ‘silent protest’ and therefore the decision was made not to penalise Cagliari with a warning or a fine.

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By: Rahman Osman/citifmonline.com/Ghana

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The 32-year-old former Ghana midfielder asked Daniele Minelli to stop Sunday’s Serie A game at Cagliari.

But he was instead booked for dissent in the 89th minute, prompting the former Portsmouth and Sunderland player to leave the pitch in protest.

He angrily confronted Cagliari fans, shouting: “This is my colour.”

Pescara boss Zdenek Zeman, whose side lost 1-0, said: “He asked the referee to intervene, but he [said he had] neither heard nor seen anything.

“Muntari was right, but he shouldn’t have left the pitch. It’s not up to us to dole out justice. We can talk a lot about it but then it must be left with the powers that be.

“Today this has happened when Muntari has already played in Italy for many years. We hope that mentalities will change.”

Muntari was at AC Milan when then team-mate Kevin-Prince Boateng walked off the pitch because of racist chanting during a friendly with lower-league side Pro Patria in January 2013.

It prompted a wave of support on social media. Fifa, football’s world governing body, applauded Boateng’s principles, but said it did not condone his decision to walk off.

Pescara are bottom of Serie A and have been relegated to Italy’s second tier.

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Source: BBC

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