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What's the story?
Mario Balotelli is one of many footballers to have slammed Leonardo Bonucci for claiming that his Juventus teammate Moise Kean was partly to blame for the racial abuse he received against Cagliari.
In case you didn't know...
Juventus faced Cagliari last night and won 2-0, but the victory was overshadowed by reports of racism from certain sectors of the away crowd. Once Moise Kean scored the second goal, he ran over to a stand which held the away supporters and celebrated in front of them with his arms outstretched.
The abuse from the crowd grew louder as a result of his response to their chanting. However, what nobody was really expecting were the comments made by his teammate Leonardo Bonucci after the game in an interview with Sky Sports Italia:
"I think the blame is 50-50. Moise should not have done that the Curva [fans] should not have reacted in that way.
"You celebrate goals with your teammates. He could have done it differently."
The heart of the matter
Mario Balotelli commented on Kean's Instagram post by saying that Bonucci was "lucky that I wasn't there". It goes without saying that the relationship between Balotelli and his Italy team-mate Bonucci has deteriorated considerably after this incident.
It was an act of solidarity from Balotelli, but one which has inadvertently added fuel to the fire. The next time Balotelli and Bonucci meet, perhaps for the Italian national team, things are bound to be very awkward -- especially if Bonucci still hasn't apologised by that point.
What's next?
Bonucci has thus far failed to apologise for his comments but included a photo on his Instagram story of him and Moise Kean together with the caption, "Regardless of everything, in any case... NO TO RACISM".
