Lazio have blamed “isolated elements” after some of their supporters displayed a banner honouring Benito Mussolini and aimed racist insults at Milan’s Tiémoué Bakayoko in separate incidents before their Coppa Italia match on Wednesday.

Gazzetta dello Sport published a video clip of Lazio fans chanting insults about midfielder Bakayoko outside San Siro before the game. The same insults were also heard inside the ground as the teams were warming up, according to reports.

Earlier, a group of fans were photographed unveiling a banner that read “Honour to Benito Mussolini”, the fascist former prime minister of Italy, in the city centre.

In a statement, the club said: “Lazio takes clear distances from behaviour and events that do not reflect in any way the sporting values sustained and promoted by the club for 119 years. And it rejects and disputes the simplistic tendency of some media to consider the entire Lazio support jointly responsible for acts carried out by a few and isolated elements, for reasons foreign to any form of sporting passion.”

Italian football has been plagued by incidents of racism in recent years. Internazionale were ordered to play two matches behind closed doors after Napoli defender Kalidou Koulibaly was subjected to racist insults during a match at the San Siro in December.

Juventus teenage forward Moise Kean was also the target of racist abuse during his team’s 1-0 win at Cagliari earlier this month. Serie A are still investigating the incident.

Lazio won the semi-final second leg 1-0 and will meet either Atalanta or Fiorentina in next month’s Coppa Italia final in Rome.