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Attendance: 16,525
Hellas Verona logo
Serie A | Gameweek 11
Nov 3, 2019 at 2pm UK
 
Brescia logo

2-1

Salcedo (50'), Pessina (81')
FT(HT: 0-0)
Balotelli (85')
Matri (97')

Verona deny accusations of racist abuse towards Mario Balotelli

Verona deny accusations of racist abuse towards Mario Balotelli
© Reuters
The Serie A match against Brescia was stopped during the 54th minute.

Verona head coach Ivan Juric has denied there was any racist abuse directed towards Brescia striker Mario Balotelli, who threatened to walk off during the second half of the Serie A defeat at Stadio Marc’Antonio Bentegodi.

Television pictures showed the former Manchester City and Liverpool forward pick up the ball and kick it into the stands before making to leave the pitch in the 54th minute of the match.

Footage later appeared on social media suggesting Balotelli was reacting to racist abuse, with monkey chants clearly audible.

Balotelli was convinced to stay by team-mates, Verona players and officials before referee Maurizio Mariani initiated the anti-racism protocol.

Balotelli was convinced to continue and went on to score a late goal (Simone Venezia/ANSA via AP)
Balotelli was convinced to continue and went on to score a late goal (Simone Venezia/ANSA via AP)

The game was temporarily suspended while a message was read out by the stadium announcer warning that the match would be abandoned if racist abuse was to occur.

It was the second time such a protocol has been followed in Serie A this weekend after the game between Roma and Napoli was briefly halted when territorial chants were directed at the Napoli supporters.

When action resumed, Verona went on to take a 2-0 lead before Balotelli curled in a 20-yard effort.

After the 2-1 defeat, Balotelli was filmed walking through the mixed zone without stopping.

The 29-year-old posted a cryptic message on his official Instagram account.

It had a short video of children chanting his name, as well as a message from We Africa To Red Earth founder Adriano Nuzzo who was speaking out against racism. Balotelli added the hashtags “#BASTA #STOPASAP #LOVE”.

Juric, though, insisted there was no racist element to any abuse directed towards Balotelli by the home supporters.

“I’m not afraid to say: today there was nothing. Lots of whistling and teasing against a great player, but there was nothing else,” Juric said at a press conference, reported on the Verona official website.

“I have also taken so many insults over the years, I know what it means, but today there has been nothing.

Balotelli was left distraught, with the match halted for several minutes. (Simone Venezia/ANSA via AP)
Balotelli was left distraught, with the match halted for several minutes. (Simone Venezia/ANSA via AP)

“On the reason of the reaction you have to ask him. When there is racism, I will have no problem saying so because it sucks, even if it comes from my fans.

“But today I heard nothing. We don’t create a case where there isn’t, it would be a lie.”

Verona president Maurizio Setti backed up Juric’s comments, saying the club’s fans were “absolutely not racist”.

Setti said in a statement: “It is wrong to generalise, speaking of racist choirs and fans.

“If out of 20,000 people a couple may, perhaps, have said something, then those two or three people, if there are, we are ready to take them and punish them because I strongly condemn any such incident.

“There are many black players who wear yellow and blue from youth to the first team, racism is a discourse that for us does not exist and Verona is not the right place for such generalisations.”

Setti added: “I met Balotelli and I apologised in the event that someone might have said something to him.”

Meanwhile, Balotelli’s agent Mino Raiola offered full support to the player.

“We are with Mario. We are against all forms of racism. Racists are ignorant,” he said in a Twitter post.

Brescia manager Eugenio Corini felt the players had all rallied around Balotelli under testing circumstances.

Brescia’s head coach Eugenio Corini, left, offered Balotelli support (Simone Venezia/ANSA via AP)
Brescia’s head coach Eugenio Corini, left, offered Balotelli support (Simone Venezia/ANSA via AP)

“Mario is a good lad. He heard something from the stands and his team-mates did well to reassure him,” Corini said in a press conference.

“The referee also read the situation well by temporarily suspending the game.

“From there on, the match became more difficult and it was played in a strange atmosphere, but we thought we had done enough to balance it out (for a draw).”

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Tables header RHS
TeamPWDLFAGDPTS
1Parma362111464333174
2Como36218757391871
3VeneziaVenezia36207966432367
4Cremonese36189946311563
5CatanzaroCatanzaro361791058461260
6Palermo361410125951852
7Sampdoria36149134949049
8Brescia361115104037348
9SudtirolSudtirol361210144445-146
10Reggiana361016103743-646
11Cosenza CalcioCosenza361112134439545
12Pisa361112134850-245
13Cittadella361112133943-445
14Modena36916113845-743
15SpeziaSpezia36816123246-1440
16AscoliAscoli36813153439-537
17Ternana36910174150-937
18BariBari36716133548-1337
19FeralpiSaloFeralpiSalo3689194362-1933
20Lecco3668223267-3526


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