British police are
investigating the barrage of racist abuse Liverpool's Italian
forward Mario Balotelli was subjected to after mocking rivals
Manchester United on Twitter.
The abuse started after the 24-year-old striker posted
"Man utd ... LOL" on his account, @FinallyMario, after United
surrendered a 3-1 lead in a 5-3 defeat at Leicester City on
Sunday.
Several people responded by calling the black player a
"monkey".
One of the worst attacks was posted by a profile of a
person calling himself Craig Sainsbury.
It called Balotelli, who has Ghanaian roots, a "n**ger"
and told him to "eat some bananas and get Ebola".
Balotelli, a talented player who has a poor disciplinary
record and image for being a rebel, has been subject to racist
abuse many times in the past.
Earlier this year a teenager shouted "sh*tty black" at him
at Italy's pre-World Cup training camp near Florence.
Last year T-shirts saying 'if you bleach Balotelli
he'll still stink' went on sale in a shop in central Naples.
Porto were fined 20,000 euros because their fans racially
abused him during a Europa League tie in February 2012 when he
was a Manchester City player.
Juventus had to play a game behind doors in 2009 after
their supporters directed chants of "there's no such thing as a
black Italian" at him when he was an Inter Milan player.
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