Italian striker Mario Balotelli had to deal with some obnoxious fans, and he came close to leave the game between Hellas Verona and Brescia due to racist chants hurled at him by racist fans.
Verona was ahead 1-0 after 53 minutes, and as Balotelli earned a corner kick for Brescia, he completely lost his cool, kicking the ball to the stands and directing his rage against a portion of Verona's fans.
The referee of the game and Verona's players tried to keep Balotelli from walking away from the pitch, but they were unsuccessful in their attempts, as Balotelli was pretty tense about this situation.
Balotelli walked off the pitch and was eventually convinced of making it back, but he refused to play until a message warning fans about their behavior was read on the stadium's PA system.
Have a look at the incident here (Image might be geo-restricted).
Scenes in Italy. Mario Balotelli, presumably in response to racist abuse from fans, picks up ball and kicks it into stands.
— Henry Bushnell (@HenryBushnell) November 3, 2019
Here's the aftermath.
We - football, society – need teammates/opponents to stop pleading with victims to not walk off, start walking off with them instead pic.twitter.com/wQ6rfs7j0K
Eventually, Balotelli returned to the pitch and even scored a goal, but he could not help Brescia in their attempt to win the game, which concluded with a 2-1 score for the hosts.
