Rome (AFP)

Brescia Italian striker Mario Balotelli, apparently the victim of racist cries, threatened to leave the field during the Hellas Verona field match on Sunday in the Italian league.

The incident occurred shortly before the 60th minute of the match. After an action on the left side of the field, Balotelli took the ball in hand and sent it violently to the Verona fans.

Furious, he pointed to the ears that he had heard something. He then went out of bounds and started to walk behind the goal from Verona, as if he wanted to abandon the match.

He was then surrounded by his teammates but also by many players from Verona, who tried to calm him down and hugged him.

The match was interrupted a few minutes before a message was read by the stadium announcer, indicating that the players would return to the locker room in case of a new incident of the same kind.

This message was whistled by a large number of spectators, but the match resumed, with Balotelli remaining on the pitch.

The phenomenon of monkey calls is recurrent in the Italian stadiums and, since the beginning of the season, the Belgian of Inter Milan Romelu Lukaku, the Ivorian of AC Milan Frank Kessie, the Brazilian of Fiorentina Dalbert or the English Sampdoria Genoa Ronaldo Vieira have already been victims.

The sanctions against these racist cries are mostly non-existent or derisory but the Italian football authorities and several clubs have recently committed to "zero tolerance" in this area.

© 2019 AFP