VIDEO
Italian football is once again a victim of racist excesses. This weekend, it is the turn of Mario Balotelli to have been the target. The former star of Nice and OM, who plays today in Brescia, has threatened to leave the field of Hellas Verona, Sunday in the league of Italy. 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.
[️VIDEO] Serie A
Excited by racist songs against him, Mario Balotelli balances the ball in the Curva of the ultras of Verona ...
... and threatens to leave the field! https: //t.co/ovcHeLAbxA
A magnificent goal in response
As a symbol, "Super Mario" scored a beautiful goal late in the game, as to better respond to these racist cries. With a sublime wound, at 20 meters, he found the skylight of Hellas (85th). Despite this stroke of genius, Balotelli could not prevent the defeat of his team, beaten 2-1 and remains 18th and first relegation.
[️VIDEO - ⚽️BUT] Serie A
☄️ Balotelli responds to racist songs with a beautiful goal! pic.twitter.com/DnQTLEZl49
A recurring and largely unpunished phenomenon
The phenomenon of cries of monkey is recurrent in the Italian stadiums. 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 Englishman of the Sampdoria Genoa Ronaldo Vieira have already been victims. Sanctions against these racist cries are mostly non-existent or derisory, but Italian football authorities and several clubs have recently committed to "zero tolerance" in this area.