Mario Balotelli, Italy striker has said he’ll walk off the pitch if he is racially abused during the European Championship (Euro 2012) in Poland and Ukraine next month.
Balotelli who is of Ghanaian descent, said: “If someone throws a banana at me in the street, I will go to prison because I will kill him.”
The Manchester City striker also threatened to “leave the pitch and go home” if he is racially abused.
“Racism is unacceptable to me, I cannot bear it. We are in 2012, it can’t happen,” Balotelli said.
A recent BBC Panorama programme revealed cases of racism and anti-Semitism in football grounds in Poland and Ukraine.
Former England captain Sol Campbell told the BBC’s Panorama that Euro 2012 should not have been awarded to Poland and Ukraine because of entrenched racism and violence. He even discouraged fans from travelling to Poland and Ukraine. “Stay at home, watch it on TV. Don’t even risk it… because you could end up coming back in a coffin,” he said.