Balotelli: "I would have had fewer problems if I'd been white"
The Nice forward discussed his upbringing in Italy during an interview and said that while racism isn't an intrinsic problem in Italy, there are issues still to tackle.
Nice forward Mario Balotelli gave an interview with French website So Foot in which he discussed racism in Italy and the effect it had on his upbringing after suffering recent abuse from Dijon fans during a Ligue 1 game.
“I was born and raised in Italy but the laws there did not allow me to gain Italian nationality until I was 18,” Balotelli said. “That isn’t right. The country in itself isn’t racist, but there are a lot of people who are and changing that is something that is in everyone’s hands. If I was white I would have had fewer problems. Was it me who caused many of them? Of course it is, but I have no doubt that I would have been forgiven for them a lot quicker.”
Balotelli considering his options in the summer
Balotelli has scored 22 goals in Ligue 1 this season after signing for Nice on a one-year deal last summer and his agent, Mino Raiola, said recently that the striker is considering various offers this summer, some of them from the Premier League.
| Classification | PTS | WM | TM | LM |
|---|
| Upcoming matches |
|---|