{"id":1113972,"date":"2019-11-05T15:05:18","date_gmt":"2019-11-05T15:05:18","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.squawka.com\/en\/?p=1113972"},"modified":"2019-11-05T15:05:18","modified_gmt":"2019-11-05T15:05:18","slug":"mario-balotelli-addresses-ignorant-ultras-being-racially-abused-verona-brescia","status":"publish","type":"news","link":"https:\/\/www.squawka.com\/en\/news\/mario-balotelli-addresses-ignorant-ultras-being-racially-abused-verona-brescia\/","title":{"rendered":"Mario Balotelli addresses &#8220;ignorant&#8221; ultras after suffering racial abuse from Verona fans"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><strong>Mario Balotelli has addressed the racist abuse he suffered at the hands of\u00a0&#8220;ignorant&#8221; Hellas Verona ultras by saying it&#8217;s more than just about football.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>The 29-year-old Italian marksman, who returned to Serie A this summer by joining Brescia, threatened to walk off the field after receiving abuse in their 2-1 defeat at the Stadio Marc&#8217;Antonio Bentegodi.<\/p>\n<h2><strong>Balotelli&#8217;s response to latest racial abuse suffered: Five key things to know\u2026<\/strong><\/h2>\n<ul>\n<li>Mario Balotelli was racially abused by Verona ultras over the weekend.<\/li>\n<li>He would score in a 2-1 defeat at the Stadio Marc&#8217;Antonio Bentegodi.<\/li>\n<li>Before that moment Balotelli threatened to walk off after being showered by abuse from the stands.<\/li>\n<li>Verona manager Ivan Juric, head of the ultras and even the town mayor all denied Balotelli&#8217;s account.<\/li>\n<li>The 36-timed capped Italian international would address the abuse he received on social media: calling out the &#8220;ignorant&#8221; ultras whilst saying this is more than about football.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" style=\"background-color: transparent; display: block; padding: 0; max-width: 700px;\" title=\"Audioboom player\" src=\"https:\/\/embeds.audioboom.com\/posts\/7411631\/embed\/v4?image_option=full\" width=\"300\" height=\"300\" frameborder=\"0\" scrolling=\"no\"><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p>During the final 45 minutes, the former Manchester City striker kicked the ball into the stands before storming off the pitch, his teammates and opponents would try and calm him down whilst referee Maurizio Mariani subsequently followed protocol by stopping play for a few minutes.<\/p>\n<p>A statement would be read out as the game was temporarily halted informing those in attendance it would be suspended if the racist chanting does not stop. Such reality, though, was denied by Verona manager Ivan Juric, head of the ultras and even the town mayor all of whom suggesting Balotelli misheard.<\/p>\n<p>Balotelli, naturally was apoplectic, such behaviour has dogged him in his homeland since turning professional. He would make his feelings known on social media stressing this is bigger than football.<\/p>\n<p><iframe loading=\"lazy\" title=\"Chris Smalling! Roma vs Napoli - Squawka Serie A Vlog\" width=\"500\" height=\"281\" src=\"https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/embed\/gEh7xcsHQ04?feature=oembed\" frameborder=\"0\" allow=\"accelerometer; autoplay; clipboard-write; encrypted-media; gyroscope; picture-in-picture; web-share\" referrerpolicy=\"strict-origin-when-cross-origin\" allowfullscreen><\/iframe><\/p>\n<p><strong>Subscribe to <a href=\"http:\/\/sqwk.at\/Squawka-Sub\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Squawka\u2019s Youtube channel here<\/a>.<\/strong><\/p>\n<p>&#8220;Listen, my friends, this is not about football anymore,&#8221; he wrote on his Instagram page.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;You are implying about a social and historical situation much bigger than you small-minded people. You guys are losing it. Wake up, you ignorant people.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>The 36-time capped Azzurri international also documented the inflammatory language used by his abusers questioning their hypocrisy.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;But when Mario scored and still guarantees to score goals for Italy, you were fine with it?&#8221; he added.<\/p>\n<p>As a result of the Balotelli incident, Verona have been hit with a partial stadium closure for one game by Serie A&#8217;s disciplinary commission. At the same time, the club have also banned the head of their ultras until 2030.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Mario Balotelli has addressed the racist abuse he suffered at the hands of\u00a0&#8220;ignorant&#8221; Hellas Verona ultras by saying it&#8217;s more than just about football. The 29-year-old Italian marksman, who returned to Serie A this summer by joining Brescia, threatened to walk off the field after receiving abuse in their 2-1 defeat at the Stadio Marc&#8217;Antonio&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":202,"featured_media":1113987,"parent":0,"menu_order":4431,"template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_yoast_wpseo_focuskw":"","_yoast_wpseo_title":"Balotelli addresses \"ignorant\" fans after Verona ban head of ultras until 2030","_yoast_wpseo_metadesc":"Mario Balotelli has addressed the racist abuse he suffered at the hands of Verona ultras arguing this is more than football.","footnotes":""},"tags":[],"news-category":[],"class_list":["post-1113972","news","type-news","status-publish","has-post-thumbnail","hentry"],"acf":{"external_featured_image_url":"","hide_featured_image_pattern":false},"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO Premium plugin v27.1 (Yoast SEO v27.1.1) - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-premium-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Balotelli addresses &quot;ignorant&quot; fans after Verona ban head of ultras until 2030<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Mario Balotelli has addressed the racist abuse he suffered at the hands of Verona ultras arguing this is more than football.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/www.squawka.com\/en\/news\/mario-balotelli-addresses-ignorant-ultras-being-racially-abused-verona-brescia\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_GB\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Mario Balotelli addresses &quot;ignorant&quot; ultras after suffering racial abuse from Verona fans\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Mario Balotelli has addressed the racist abuse he suffered at the hands of Verona ultras arguing this is more than football.\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:url\" content=\"https:\/\/www.squawka.com\/en\/news\/mario-balotelli-addresses-ignorant-ultras-being-racially-abused-verona-brescia\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:site_name\" content=\"Squawka | EN\" \/>\n<meta property=\"article:publisher\" content=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/SquawkaFootballNews\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:image\" content=\"https:\/\/media.squawka.com\/images\/en\/2019\/11\/05121849\/PA-48100885-1.jpg\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:width\" content=\"1538\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:height\" content=\"1024\" \/>\n\t<meta property=\"og:image:type\" content=\"image\/jpeg\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:card\" content=\"summary_large_image\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:site\" content=\"@squawka\" \/>\n<meta name=\"twitter:label1\" content=\"Estimated reading time\" \/>\n\t<meta name=\"twitter:data1\" content=\"2 minutes\" \/>\n<script type=\"application\/ld+json\" class=\"yoast-schema-graph\">{\"@context\":\"https:\/\/schema.org\",\"@graph\":[{\"@type\":\"NewsArticle\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.squawka.com\/en\/news\/mario-balotelli-addresses-ignorant-ultras-being-racially-abused-verona-brescia\/#article\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.squawka.com\/en\/news\/mario-balotelli-addresses-ignorant-ultras-being-racially-abused-verona-brescia\/\"},\"author\":{\"name\":\"Mohamed Moallim\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.squawka.com\/en\/#\/schema\/person\/46582d436cbfa44c50f11dd9e9e6f22c\"},\"headline\":\"Mario Balotelli addresses &#8220;ignorant&#8221; ultras after suffering racial abuse from Verona fans\",\"datePublished\":\"2019-11-05T15:05:18+00:00\",\"mainEntityOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.squawka.com\/en\/news\/mario-balotelli-addresses-ignorant-ultras-being-racially-abused-verona-brescia\/\"},\"wordCount\":426,\"commentCount\":0,\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.squawka.com\/en\/news\/mario-balotelli-addresses-ignorant-ultras-being-racially-abused-verona-brescia\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/media.squawka.com\/images\/en\/2019\/11\/05121849\/PA-48100885-1.jpg\",\"articleSection\":[\"News\"],\"inLanguage\":\"en-GB\"},{\"@type\":\"WebPage\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.squawka.com\/en\/news\/mario-balotelli-addresses-ignorant-ultras-being-racially-abused-verona-brescia\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.squawka.com\/en\/news\/mario-balotelli-addresses-ignorant-ultras-being-racially-abused-verona-brescia\/\",\"name\":\"Balotelli addresses \\\"ignorant\\\" fans after Verona ban head of ultras until 2030\",\"isPartOf\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.squawka.com\/en\/#website\"},\"primaryImageOfPage\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.squawka.com\/en\/news\/mario-balotelli-addresses-ignorant-ultras-being-racially-abused-verona-brescia\/#primaryimage\"},\"image\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.squawka.com\/en\/news\/mario-balotelli-addresses-ignorant-ultras-being-racially-abused-verona-brescia\/#primaryimage\"},\"thumbnailUrl\":\"https:\/\/media.squawka.com\/images\/en\/2019\/11\/05121849\/PA-48100885-1.jpg\",\"datePublished\":\"2019-11-05T15:05:18+00:00\",\"description\":\"Mario Balotelli has addressed the racist abuse he suffered at the hands of Verona ultras arguing this is more than football.\",\"breadcrumb\":{\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.squawka.com\/en\/news\/mario-balotelli-addresses-ignorant-ultras-being-racially-abused-verona-brescia\/#breadcrumb\"},\"inLanguage\":\"en-GB\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"ReadAction\",\"target\":[\"https:\/\/www.squawka.com\/en\/news\/mario-balotelli-addresses-ignorant-ultras-being-racially-abused-verona-brescia\/\"]}]},{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-GB\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.squawka.com\/en\/news\/mario-balotelli-addresses-ignorant-ultras-being-racially-abused-verona-brescia\/#primaryimage\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/media.squawka.com\/images\/en\/2019\/11\/05121849\/PA-48100885-1.jpg\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/media.squawka.com\/images\/en\/2019\/11\/05121849\/PA-48100885-1.jpg\",\"width\":1538,\"height\":1024},{\"@type\":\"BreadcrumbList\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.squawka.com\/en\/news\/mario-balotelli-addresses-ignorant-ultras-being-racially-abused-verona-brescia\/#breadcrumb\",\"itemListElement\":[{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":1,\"name\":\"Squawka\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.squawka.com\/en\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":2,\"name\":\"News\",\"item\":\"https:\/\/www.squawka.com\/en\/news\/\"},{\"@type\":\"ListItem\",\"position\":3,\"name\":\"Mario Balotelli addresses &#8220;ignorant&#8221; ultras after suffering racial abuse from Verona fans\"}]},{\"@type\":\"WebSite\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.squawka.com\/en\/#website\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.squawka.com\/en\/\",\"name\":\"Squawka | EN\",\"description\":\"Football News, Stats, and More...\",\"potentialAction\":[{\"@type\":\"SearchAction\",\"target\":{\"@type\":\"EntryPoint\",\"urlTemplate\":\"https:\/\/www.squawka.com\/en\/?s={search_term_string}\"},\"query-input\":{\"@type\":\"PropertyValueSpecification\",\"valueRequired\":true,\"valueName\":\"search_term_string\"}}],\"inLanguage\":\"en-GB\"},{\"@type\":\"Person\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.squawka.com\/en\/#\/schema\/person\/46582d436cbfa44c50f11dd9e9e6f22c\",\"name\":\"Mohamed Moallim\",\"image\":{\"@type\":\"ImageObject\",\"inLanguage\":\"en-GB\",\"@id\":\"https:\/\/www.squawka.com\/en\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/\",\"url\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/745e1c4126cef29da74a30842230f6dd19f94a0b1223e2b89a1863093c4643ea?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"contentUrl\":\"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/745e1c4126cef29da74a30842230f6dd19f94a0b1223e2b89a1863093c4643ea?s=96&d=mm&r=g\",\"caption\":\"Mohamed Moallim\"},\"description\":\"I'm a freelance writer who specialises in the beautiful game. With over ten years of experience, I have been published in the Independent and Daily Mirror and numerous magazines, including FourFourTwo and Champions Journal. I've also appeared as a Dutch football expert on Talksport and BBC Five Live. When I'm not working, you can find me studying all fields of knowledge no matter how obscure.\",\"sameAs\":[\"https:\/\/x.com\/iammoallim\"],\"url\":\"https:\/\/www.squawka.com\/en\/author\/mohamed-moallim\/\"}]}<\/script>\n<!-- \/ Yoast SEO Premium plugin. -->","yoast_head_json":{"title":"Balotelli addresses \"ignorant\" fans after Verona ban head of ultras until 2030","description":"Mario Balotelli has addressed the racist abuse he suffered at the hands of Verona ultras arguing this is more than football.","robots":{"index":"index","follow":"follow","max-snippet":"max-snippet:-1","max-image-preview":"max-image-preview:large","max-video-preview":"max-video-preview:-1"},"canonical":"https:\/\/www.squawka.com\/en\/news\/mario-balotelli-addresses-ignorant-ultras-being-racially-abused-verona-brescia\/","og_locale":"en_GB","og_type":"article","og_title":"Mario Balotelli addresses \"ignorant\" ultras after suffering racial abuse from Verona fans","og_description":"Mario Balotelli has addressed the racist abuse he suffered at the hands of Verona ultras arguing this is more than football.","og_url":"https:\/\/www.squawka.com\/en\/news\/mario-balotelli-addresses-ignorant-ultras-being-racially-abused-verona-brescia\/","og_site_name":"Squawka | EN","article_publisher":"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/SquawkaFootballNews\/","og_image":[{"width":1538,"height":1024,"url":"https:\/\/media.squawka.com\/images\/en\/2019\/11\/05121849\/PA-48100885-1.jpg","type":"image\/jpeg"}],"twitter_card":"summary_large_image","twitter_site":"@squawka","twitter_misc":{"Estimated reading time":"2 minutes"},"schema":{"@context":"https:\/\/schema.org","@graph":[{"@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https:\/\/www.squawka.com\/en\/news\/mario-balotelli-addresses-ignorant-ultras-being-racially-abused-verona-brescia\/#article","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.squawka.com\/en\/news\/mario-balotelli-addresses-ignorant-ultras-being-racially-abused-verona-brescia\/"},"author":{"name":"Mohamed Moallim","@id":"https:\/\/www.squawka.com\/en\/#\/schema\/person\/46582d436cbfa44c50f11dd9e9e6f22c"},"headline":"Mario Balotelli addresses &#8220;ignorant&#8221; ultras after suffering racial abuse from Verona fans","datePublished":"2019-11-05T15:05:18+00:00","mainEntityOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.squawka.com\/en\/news\/mario-balotelli-addresses-ignorant-ultras-being-racially-abused-verona-brescia\/"},"wordCount":426,"commentCount":0,"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.squawka.com\/en\/news\/mario-balotelli-addresses-ignorant-ultras-being-racially-abused-verona-brescia\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/media.squawka.com\/images\/en\/2019\/11\/05121849\/PA-48100885-1.jpg","articleSection":["News"],"inLanguage":"en-GB"},{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https:\/\/www.squawka.com\/en\/news\/mario-balotelli-addresses-ignorant-ultras-being-racially-abused-verona-brescia\/","url":"https:\/\/www.squawka.com\/en\/news\/mario-balotelli-addresses-ignorant-ultras-being-racially-abused-verona-brescia\/","name":"Balotelli addresses \"ignorant\" fans after Verona ban head of ultras until 2030","isPartOf":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.squawka.com\/en\/#website"},"primaryImageOfPage":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.squawka.com\/en\/news\/mario-balotelli-addresses-ignorant-ultras-being-racially-abused-verona-brescia\/#primaryimage"},"image":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.squawka.com\/en\/news\/mario-balotelli-addresses-ignorant-ultras-being-racially-abused-verona-brescia\/#primaryimage"},"thumbnailUrl":"https:\/\/media.squawka.com\/images\/en\/2019\/11\/05121849\/PA-48100885-1.jpg","datePublished":"2019-11-05T15:05:18+00:00","description":"Mario Balotelli has addressed the racist abuse he suffered at the hands of Verona ultras arguing this is more than football.","breadcrumb":{"@id":"https:\/\/www.squawka.com\/en\/news\/mario-balotelli-addresses-ignorant-ultras-being-racially-abused-verona-brescia\/#breadcrumb"},"inLanguage":"en-GB","potentialAction":[{"@type":"ReadAction","target":["https:\/\/www.squawka.com\/en\/news\/mario-balotelli-addresses-ignorant-ultras-being-racially-abused-verona-brescia\/"]}]},{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-GB","@id":"https:\/\/www.squawka.com\/en\/news\/mario-balotelli-addresses-ignorant-ultras-being-racially-abused-verona-brescia\/#primaryimage","url":"https:\/\/media.squawka.com\/images\/en\/2019\/11\/05121849\/PA-48100885-1.jpg","contentUrl":"https:\/\/media.squawka.com\/images\/en\/2019\/11\/05121849\/PA-48100885-1.jpg","width":1538,"height":1024},{"@type":"BreadcrumbList","@id":"https:\/\/www.squawka.com\/en\/news\/mario-balotelli-addresses-ignorant-ultras-being-racially-abused-verona-brescia\/#breadcrumb","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"name":"Squawka","item":"https:\/\/www.squawka.com\/en\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"name":"News","item":"https:\/\/www.squawka.com\/en\/news\/"},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"name":"Mario Balotelli addresses &#8220;ignorant&#8221; ultras after suffering racial abuse from Verona fans"}]},{"@type":"WebSite","@id":"https:\/\/www.squawka.com\/en\/#website","url":"https:\/\/www.squawka.com\/en\/","name":"Squawka | EN","description":"Football News, Stats, and More...","potentialAction":[{"@type":"SearchAction","target":{"@type":"EntryPoint","urlTemplate":"https:\/\/www.squawka.com\/en\/?s={search_term_string}"},"query-input":{"@type":"PropertyValueSpecification","valueRequired":true,"valueName":"search_term_string"}}],"inLanguage":"en-GB"},{"@type":"Person","@id":"https:\/\/www.squawka.com\/en\/#\/schema\/person\/46582d436cbfa44c50f11dd9e9e6f22c","name":"Mohamed Moallim","image":{"@type":"ImageObject","inLanguage":"en-GB","@id":"https:\/\/www.squawka.com\/en\/#\/schema\/person\/image\/","url":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/745e1c4126cef29da74a30842230f6dd19f94a0b1223e2b89a1863093c4643ea?s=96&d=mm&r=g","contentUrl":"https:\/\/secure.gravatar.com\/avatar\/745e1c4126cef29da74a30842230f6dd19f94a0b1223e2b89a1863093c4643ea?s=96&d=mm&r=g","caption":"Mohamed Moallim"},"description":"I'm a freelance writer who specialises in the beautiful game. With over ten years of experience, I have been published in the Independent and Daily Mirror and numerous magazines, including FourFourTwo and Champions Journal. I've also appeared as a Dutch football expert on Talksport and BBC Five Live. When I'm not working, you can find me studying all fields of knowledge no matter how obscure.","sameAs":["https:\/\/x.com\/iammoallim"],"url":"https:\/\/www.squawka.com\/en\/author\/mohamed-moallim\/"}]}},"yoast_title":"Balotelli addresses \"ignorant\" fans after Verona ban head of ultras until 2030","yoast_description":"Mario Balotelli has addressed the racist abuse he suffered at the hands of Verona ultras arguing this is more than football.","yoast_keyword":"","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.squawka.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news\/1113972","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.squawka.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.squawka.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/news"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.squawka.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/202"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.squawka.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news\/1113972\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.squawka.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/1113987"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.squawka.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1113972"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.squawka.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1113972"},{"taxonomy":"news-category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.squawka.com\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/news-category?post=1113972"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}