Mario Balotelli might not be a household name at the moment but the Inter Milan teenager is said to be one of the most talented youngsters in football. But he has made a stark revelation about Italian society that might not be endeared by the outside world.
Mario Balotelli turned 18 on Wednesday and received his his Italian citizenship at a ceremony at the town hall in Concesio, Brescia. Balotelli was born to Ghanian immigrants in 1990 and when he was three years of age, a court ruling entrusted him to the Balotelli family who lived in Brescia.
On the occasion of him finally gained his Italian citizenship, Balotelli made a gruesome revelation. He spoke about the problems faced by foreigners in Italy and underlined the discrimination confronted by foreigners in the Italian society.
“Life in Italy is much harder for a foreigner than for an Italian,” he explained.
“I could give you many examples, like when you’re forced to stand in endless queues to get into the offices of the police headquarters.
“I did it once with my mother and once was enough for me. She has done it tens of times for me.
“It’s not a nice thing, knowing that I was born in Italy and had never lived outside Italy. But this is certainly one of the minor inconveniences.”
For all those Italian Serie A followers, racism is a much common act in Italian football. This type of discrimination must certainly stem out of some social problems and Mario Balotelli’s admission that indeed there are problems within the Italian society must be taken seriously if Italian society in general and Italian football in particular is to be purged of this mess.
