Mario Balotelli suffers racist abuse from Italy and Romania fans
The Romania striker Ciprian Marica scored at both ends in a 1-1 draw with a disjointed Italy in Austria tonight but racist boos and banners towardsMario Balotelli marred the friendly.
The Manchester City striker, earning his second start forItaly, was abused by a section of fans every time he touched the ball in the game at Klagenfurt's HYPO Group Arena.
The Italy coach Cesare Prandelli said of the racist chants: "I feel disappointment and anger. We always hear these chants and something has to be done about it. We feel helpless. He [Balotelli] has the support of everyone."
Marica grabbed a deserved opener after 34 minutes, but deflected in the substitute Fabio Quagliarella's header following a corner eight minutes from time.
The Juventus forward Quagliarella tried to claim the goal having earlier come on for Balotelli, who was subjected to a small amount of racist booing from the crowd with the origins of the chants unclear.
However, some Italian ultra fans did unveil a banner reading "no to a multi-ethnic national team".
Prandelli handed debuts to four players, including the Argentina-born midfielder Cristian Ledesma which has also upset the ultras, but the experimental line-up meant there was little fluency or cohesion.
Brescia's former West Ham United playmaker Alessandro Diamanti was anonymous and taken off at the break on his first appearance as a replacement for Antonio Cassano, dropped after being suspended by Sampdoria for swearing at the club president.
Balotelli offered the only real spark in the first half for Italy, managing two decent efforts on goal, while the substitute Alberto Gilardino was lively in the second period.
Romania – struggling in fifth place in Euro 2012 Group D in contrast to Italy who top Euro Group C – looked composed on the ball except for being rattled by Gilardino just after the break.