Learning of this, got me so saddened, considering the fact that it keeps replicating itself over and over again. Iconic footballer, Mario Balotelli was abused racially by an Hellas Verona ultras supporters group.

However, it was much better to hear that, at least something was done about it this time around. The serie A club, penalized the head of the supporters, Luca Castellini with a 11-year ban. He was banned until ’30th June, 2030′. Moreover, it was noticed that the referee had to halt the game in the early parts of the second half, for a cautionary statement to be issued against the abuse. However, the manager of Verona, Ivan Juric claimed he did not hear any racist chants from the home supporters after the game. Also, on Monday the head of the fans in question, still had the guts to say this in an interview:

“Balotelli is Italian because he has Italian citizenship, but he can never be completely Italian.”

Now, that was too much. And though he got punished for doing so, there should be a better way of detering others too.