Mario Balotelli victim of racism during match in Dubai: "I did not expect it here"

Mario Balotelli reported incidents of racism against him during Al Ittifaq’s match against Gulf United, won 3-1 in Dubai. SuperMario, who scored the home team&#8217s second goal and was later replaced at halftime, in the first 45′ ended up in the crosshairs of boorish insults from some fans.

“Today, during a match, I was the victim of racist insults several times – he wrote on Instagram -I was repeatedly told: ‘Uh uh banana, go eat banana’. There is absolutely no place for racism in soccer nor in society”.

“This kind of behavior cannot be normalized, justified or ignored. I speak openly to raise awareness – not only for myself, but for every player who has been subjected to this. Enough is enough”.

“I have always condemned any act of racism, I didn&#8217t expect it here. I hope that serious action will be taken to prevent this from happening again” concluded Balotelli. It was Balotelli&#8217s second game in the UAE: on his debut he had gone without a goal and Al Ittifaq had been defeated.