Mario Balotelli subject of racist remark made by Brescia president Massimo Cellino

Balotelli was also the target of abuse during this month's Serie A meeting with Hellas Verona
AFP via Getty Images
Malik Ouzia @MalikOuzia_25 November 2019

Brescia striker Mario Balotelli was the subject of a racist remark made by club president Massimo Cellino on Monday.

The former Man City and Liverpool forward joined hometown club Brescia this summer, but has struggled for form and was dropped for this weekend’s clash with Roma after a dispute with coach Fabio Grosso.

Cellino, who previously owned Leeds United, was asked about the 29-year-old’s problems prior to a league meeting, and said: "He's black, what can I say, he's working on clearing himself but he's having a lot of difficulty."

Brescia later attempted to downplay Cellino's comment, saying in a statement that it was merely "a quip" that was "clearly misunderstood." The club added that Cellino was "attempting to downplay the excessive media coverage by protecting (Balotelli)."

The incident comes less than a month after Balotelli was targeted by racist chanting during a league fixture against Hellas Verona, which prompted the Italian to pick up the ball and kick it into the stands, while the match was suspended for several minutes.

Additional reporting by the Press Association.

Create a FREE account to continue reading

eros

Registration is a free and easy way to support our journalism.

Join our community where you can: comment on stories; sign up to newsletters; enter competitions and access content on our app.

Your email address

Must be at least 6 characters, include an upper and lower case character and a number

You must be at least 18 years old to create an account

* Required fields

Already have an account? SIGN IN

By clicking Create Account you confirm that your data has been entered correctly and you have read and agree to our Terms of use , Cookie policy and Privacy policy .

This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply.

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged in