Mario Balotelli booked for ‘racist abuse complaint’

11 February 2018, 4:43 pm

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Italian soccer player Mario Balotelli was booked during Nice’s 3-2 loss at Dijon for complaining about racist abuse, his French Ligue 1 club and a local newspaper claim.

Nice says that at Saturday’s math Balotelli “picked up a yellow card after… getting annoyed at fans’ racist abuse.”

Local newspaper Nice Matin in its match report said Balotelli “eyeballed and pointed his finger” at fans and “complained of racist abuse.”

In this photo dated June 24, 2014, Italy’s Mario Balotelli kicks the ball over Uruguay’s Martin Caceres during the group D World Cup soccer match between Italy and Uruguay at the Arena das Dunas in Natal, Brazil. (AP Photo/Ricardo Mazalan)

The newspaper said Dijon goalkeeper Baptiste Reynet had tried to calm down a furious Balotelli telling him he “hadn’t heard any racist chants,” to which the Italian forward replied it was coming from “two or three supporters.”

The 27-year-old was born in Italy to Ghanaian parents and then adopted by an Italian family. His adopted mother is Silvia Balotelli, the Jewish daughter of Holocaust survivors.

— with AFP