Explained: Why Inter defender Francesco Acerbi wasn't suspended despite being accused of racially abusing Napoli's Juan Jesus

Acerbi stood accused of using a racist slur toward Jesus during the 1-1 draw between Inter and Napoli on March 17. Acerbi was removed from Italy's latest squad as a result, and later spoke out to deny "ever saying any racist words". Jesus responded to claim that the Inter man had said "go away you nero, you are just a n*gro", which is the abuse he put forward to Italy's Federal Prosecutors' Office. But on Tuesday, Acerbi was acquitted, meaning he will serve no further suspension.

After hearing from both players and the referee of said match, as well as studying the video and audio available, Judge Gerardo Mastrandrea ruled against sanctioning the Inter defender on the basis of lack of evidence. Mastrandrea said in a statement that the alleged slur was solely perceived by Jesus and no-one else. It had been suggested that the comment may have been misinterpreted due to the language barrier between the Brazilian and Italian, although this has been heavily refuted by Jesus and Napoli.

Speaking after Tuesday's ruling, Judge Mastrandrea said, per CBS Sports: "The discriminatory content of the offense, without calling into question the good faith of the Napoli player, appears to have been perceived only by the 'offended' player [Juan Jesus], without, therefore, the support of any external evidentiary evidence, which is audio, video and testimony."

The Partenopei came out in strong support of their player in a scathing statement on the Italian authorities, writing: "Mr Acerbi was not sanctioned. At this point, according to the sporting ‘justice’ system, the guilty party must be Juan Jesus, for unjustly accusing a colleague. It is not reasonable to suggest that he misunderstood. The principle of most probability of an event, which was clearly visible from the way things played out and the apology on the pitch, has now vanished from the sporting justice system with this sentence.

“We are stunned. If the sentence states that the footage was ‘certainly compatible with the expression of an offensive phrase… from the Inter player, and the offender does not deny his comments were offensive or threatening,’ then why not take any sanction against him? Why, as the sentence states, if there was ‘certainly proof of some offence’ was no decision taken by the sporting ‘justice’ system to punish the person responsible? We are even more stunned. Napoli will no longer adhere to initiatives that are purely for show by the football institutions against racism and discrimination. We will continue to do them ourselves, the way we always have done, with renewed conviction and determination.”

Having been sent home from Italy camp due to the ongoing investigation, the ruling means Acerbi now faces no further punishment and is available for selection for Monday's game against Empoli. Per La Gazzetta dello Sport, Jesus is unable to appeal the judgement passed by the Federal Prosecutors' Office, as his focus will now be on Napoli's game with Atalanta on Tuesday.