Mario Balotelli threatened to walk off the pitch during Brescia’s away game against Verona after racist chants were directed at him by sections of the home support.
Visibly upset, the forward kicked the ball into the stands to vent his frustration at the chants, before heading towards the tunnel. Balotelli’s teammates and Verona players quickly went over and eventually persuaded him to stay on the pitch.
Henry Bushnell
(@HenryBushnell)Scenes in Italy. Mario Balotelli, presumably in response to racist abuse from fans, picks up ball and kicks it into stands.
Here’s the aftermath.
We – football, society – need teammates/opponents to stop pleading with victims to not walk off, start walking off with them instead pic.twitter.com/wQ6rfs7j0K
The match was suspended for several minutes, with the referee ordering a warning to be read out over the stadium’s public address system. The match resumed with Verona leading 1-0 and the hosts won 2-1, despite Balotelli scoring for the visitors.
It was the second time this weekend that a Serie A game has been suspended over crowd abuse. On Saturday, Roma v Napoli was briefly halted after home fans directed derogatory chants at Napoli supporters.
This season in Italy, Internazionale striker Romelu Lukaku and Sampdoria midfielder have suffered racist abuse during matches. Cagliari were fined after their fans threw bottles during the game against Inter, but not for monkey chants directed at Lukaku.
Balotelli returned to Italy and his hometown club of Brescia this summer after four years in France with Nice and Marseille. The 29-year-old has also played for Inter, Manchester City, Liverpool and Milan during his career.
