Mario Balotelli accuses Lazio fans of racism after 2-1 defeat

Brescia striker Mario Balotelli berated Lazio fans for hurling racial comments directed towards him that resulted in the match being stopped for a brief period of time. After Balotelli gave Brescia a 1-0 lead but the Serie A game was briefly stopped to make an announcement, warning fans against hurling any racial abuses.

Balotelli criticises Lazio fans

After the 2-1 defeat, Balotelli posted on his official Instagram handle wherein he said that it was a disappointing loss against Lazio and condemned all those Lazio fans who racially abused him during the match. Later on, Lazio released a statement in which the club said that they did not support any form of racism, adding that it will punish all those involved in the incident with an intent to damage the club's reputation.

Lazio secured their ninth straight Serie A win as Ciro Immobile scored a brace with goals in the 42nd minute and an injury-time winner in the 91st minute. He had scored the equaliser after Brescisa's Andrea Cistana was shown the red card. The win left Lazio placed third in the Serie A table with a four-point cushion over A.S. Roma after they were beaten by Torino with a 2-0 scoreline.

Italian publication Corriere Dello Sport received a lot of criticism for their controversial and racist headline last year. The front cover of the newspaper read as - ‘Black Friday’ - with former Manchester United teammates Romelu Lukaku and Chris Smalling featuring alongside the headline. The publication was heavily criticised as fans were quick to react against the headline. Lukaku and Smalling also responded harshly against the headline, advising the publication to focus solely on football rather than propagating racism.

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AS Roma stands by Mario Balotelli

Mario Balotelli has been subject to racism before and Serie A club AS Roma came out in support of the Brescia striker. Roma has always been an advocate of anti-racism and expressed its solidarity with the striker, who was subjected to racist chants. In its tweet, AS Roma said that whether it was 20 people or 2000, racist abuse was unacceptable. The tweet further stated that it was time to choose a side and stand up against those who wanted to destroy the game of football that is loved by people all over the world.

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(With inputs from agencies)