Football: Milan official in Balotelli racist reference

AC Milan vice-president Paolo Berlusconi calls Mario Balotelli ‘our family’s little black face’ in a video.

ROME: AC Milan vice-president Paolo Berlusconi, the brother of Italy’s former Prime Minister Silvio, called new sign-up Mario Balotelli ‘our family’s little black face’ in a video viewed yesterday.

“We are all off to see our family’s little black face,” Paolo Berlusconi is seen saying in the video just before Balotelli’s debut with AC Milan against Udinese in which he scored two goals.The video was posted on the website of La Repubblica daily.

The club has taken a stand against racism after the team stormed off the pitch in a friendly last month because of racist chants from a group of fans aimed at Ghanaian striker Kevin-Prince Boateng.

Balotelli was born of Ghanaian parents in Italy, then put in foster care and adopted by an Italian couple. He became an Italian citizen when he turned 18.

Published in The Express Tribune, February 7^th, 2013.