Balotelli suffers racist abuse from his own fans at World Cup training camp

Italy's World Cup preparations suffered a major embarrassment yesterday when police were forced to disperse supporters after racial abuse was aimed at the team's star striker Mario Balotelli. Balotelli was shocked to hear at least one fan shout out 'F***ing N****' as he took part in a sprinting exercise with his team-mates at the Coverciano complex near Florence. The 23-year-old Balotelli, who was less than 50 metres away when the insults were hurled, immediately complained to nearby team-mates, and police were called to break up a group of around 20 fans including schoolchildren who had gathered in a street overlooking Coverciano to watch training.

Afterwards, team-mate Ciro Immobile said: 'In 2014, we shouldn't need to be talking about racism again. 'We didn't speak to Mario about it afterwards because I think he agrees with me, we do not want to give any importance to these people. 'At the moment, there is a problem with chants about black people. Fortunately, Mario was very calm. We had a meeting when we met up about behaviour and not reacting, and he acted the right way. 'We know it is a very bad thing but we don't want to give publicity for the people who do it.'Yesterday, Balotelli limited himself to telling team-mate Claudio Marchisio 'I only ever get this in Rome or Florence.' Italy has a long-standing problem with racism and Balotelli was abused by Roma fans during a game for AC Milan in 2013. He made a 'shh' gesture with his lips after he and team-mate Kevin Prince-Boateng were greeted by monkey noises and Balotelli said afterwards he would walk off the pitch if he encountered it again. Immobile, who could partner Balotelli up front when they play England in their first match of the World Cup in Manaus on June 14, added: 'I'm not ashamed to be Italian because of this but I am sad when these things happen. We should try to use our role to improve behaviour, so people don't do it.'

The incident took place less than an hour into the second day of manager Cesare Prandelli's World Cup bootcamp, at around 10.45am local time. The manager himself was not close to Balotelli at the time and said he did not hear any racial slur, though he said he did hear other messages of encouragement for his striker. It's been a bumpy start all round for the Italians preparations. On Tuesday, goalkeeper and captain Gianluigi Buffon – one of four survivors from their 2006 World Cup squad – announced he was separating from his wife Alena, forcing Prandelli to say the split would not affect his preparations for Brazil. Balotelli is also in the middle of a legal battle to see more of his 18-month-old daughter Pia. The striker is well-known to English fans having won the Premier League and FA Cup with Manchester City. He returned to sign for Milan at the beginning of last year and though his form last season was patchy, he is a certainty to make Prandelli's final cut of 23 because of his performances at Euro 2012. But the Italian manager has other decisions to make whittling down his provisional squad of 23.He currently has seven strikers in his party and when asked if he would go to the World Cup, Immobile – Serie A's top scorer last season with 22 goals for Torino – quipped: 'The only certainties are life and death.'