Mario Balotelli victim of racist chants from Italian supporters
It was a sorry scene in Klagenfurt's HYPO Group Arena in Austria where Italy played their international friendly against Romania. Although the scoreline by the end showed a 1-1 draw, Italy suffered a major
loss of pride and dignity because of the display of their supporters who hurled racially abusive chants at 20-year-old striker Mario Balotelli.
Balotelli, although born in Palermo, is of Ghanian descent and was met with boos and the sound of monkey noises every time he touched the ball.
Some Italian supporters had even mounted a banner that read:
"no to multi-ethnic Italy".
Italian midfielder Christian Ledesma, who is a naturalised Argentine, came to Balotelli's defence as he told
Sky Sport Italia,
"I don't care about the racist banner, but I feel very sorry for Balotelli."
Balotelli, obviously upset over the incident was not about to add fuel to the fire.
"Honestly, I don't know what to say. If I have to hear those chants every time, you can't go forward like that. I leave others to do the judgement. I am happy to be in
the national team," he said candidly. "It wouldn't be right to stop a game because a few fans that turn up to the stadium behave like that. We need to change these people but it's not me that has to do it. Where I live, the people don't reason like these people.
A multi-ethnic Italy already exists and we can do better."
Italy coach Cesare Prandelli expressed to the media his disappointment with Italy fans when he said,
"I feel disappointment and anger. We always hear these chants and something has to be done about it. We feel helpless. He has the support of everyone."
Balotelli currently plays for Manchester City in England where he has scored two goals in three league games. The game against Romania was just his second cap for the Italian National team.
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