Racism overshadows Italian football weekend

The image of Balotelli, born in Palermo and of Ghanaian descent, blocking the game and throwing the ball to the stands in protest of racist chants once again darkened the Italian football weekend, which had seen great performances from Uruguayan Christian Oliva and Argentine Rodrigo De Paul.

In the 55th minute, while fighting for a ball in the corner, Balotelli heard discriminatory chants, became furious, and threatened to leave the field in Verona, where AC Milan's Ivorian player Frank Kessie had also experienced the same discriminatory treatment by the home crowd.

The match, then tied 0-0 and ending 2-1 for Verona, was interrupted for four minutes by the referee, while teammates and rivals tried to convince Balotelli to continue competing, which eventually happened.

Also, a part of the Verona fans, who were against racism, started chanting Balotelli's name, who returned to the field and scored a fantastic goal in the 85th minute to soften Brescia's 2-1 defeat.

The number 45 of the northern team did not want to speak after the match, although some of his teammates near the corner area confirmed that they heard discriminatory chants.

"We stand with Mario. We are against all forms of racism. Ignorant racists," posted Balotelli's representative, Mino Raiola, on his Instagram account after what happened.

It was another dark page in a Serie A season that has already seen many cases of racism, against Belgian Romelu Lukaku, Inter Milan's forward, in Cagliari, or against the aforementioned Kessie in the same Verona.

It overshadowed the eleventh Italian league matchday, in which Juventus won the derby against Torino (1-0, goal by Dutchman Matthijs De Ligt) and maintained their lead with one point advantage over Inter, who won at Bologna's field with a brace from Lukaku.

Roma also confirmed their growth, reaching the third position and sinking Napoli (2-1), currently out of the European spots, at the capital's Olympic Stadium. Cagliari also presented their candidacy for Europe with a great 2-0 victory on Atalanta's field.

The Sardinian team triumphed thanks to a own goal by Croatian Mario Pasalic and the first goal in Serie A by Uruguayan Christian Oliva, born in 1996, who was featured in the midfield this Sunday.

Cagliari is now fourth, tied with Atalanta, and dreams of qualifying for a European competition they have been missing since 1994, when they reached the semifinals of the UEFA Cup.

It was also a relief day for De Paul, former Valencia and Racing Avellaneda player, who scored a fantastic goal in Udinese's 3-1 victory at Genoa's field, breaking a goal drought that had lasted since April 7th.

Fiorentina and Parma shared points in Florence (1-1), in a match where the visitors took the lead thanks to veteran Ivorian Gervais Kouassi "Gervinho" and the hosts equalized through young Gaetano Castrovilli.

Lecce will still have to wait before celebrating their first home win. This Sunday they took the lead twice, but their rival, Sassuolo, reacted and achieved the final 2-2 draw with a goal from Domenico Berardi in the 85th minute.