Balotelli most-targeted player for hate crimes on social media

Mario Balotelli is subjected to more hate crimes on social media than any other Premier League player, while Chelsea are the club most-affected, a new survey has found.

Research undertaken by anti-racism organisation Kick It Out revealed that Liverpool striker Balotelli had been the target of discriminatory posts over 8,000 times between August 2014 and March this year.

More than half of the messages aimed at the Italian were racist.

Approximately 19,000 discriminatory posts were directed at Balotelli's club, although Chelsea were the team most affected – receiving roughly 20,000.

The findings of posts on Facebook, Twitter, club forums and blogs suggested that over 134,000 offensive messages had been sent this season, averaging out at one "abusive mention" every two-and-a-half minutes.

"This is a huge amount of awful abuse," Kick It Out's chief executive Roisin Wood said. 

"A lot of it is vile, and something needs to be done. We are really frustrated by the police response but we also understand that they cannot investigate all of this. 

"We have to take it seriously and that is why we are inviting the relevant bodies and authorities to work together to find ways of addressing it."

Kick It Out also outlined their intention to form a group including football chiefs, social media managers and the police in an attempt to stamp out incidents.

I calmed down Balotelli to prevent red card - Liverpool fan

Liverpool fan Shaun Leatherbarrow claimed credit for helping his side avoid going down to nine men in Sunday's Premier League loss to Manchester United on Sunday after he tried to calm down striker Mario Balotelli.

Having already seen captain Steven Gerrard dismissed just 38 seconds after his introduction at half-time, Liverpool were already pushed for manpower and eventually went on to lose 2-1 in what could be a telling result in the top-four race.

Nine minutes after Daniel Sturridge pulled a goal back for the hosts at Anfield, Balotelli - already on a yellow card - and United defender Chris Smalling were involved in a tussle on the sideline.

Balotelli's momentum saw him end up alongside the advertising hoardings and right next to the front row seats.

And Leatherbarrow, sitting square in front of the action, said he felt it was his responsibility to calm the Italy international - to avoid seeing Liverpool go down to nine for the final 10 minutes. 

"The way I saw it, Smalling sort of shoved Mario off the pitch and Mario grabbed him just to have something to grab on to," the supporter told the Liverpool Echo.

"I could tell from Mario's body language he was ready to react and I knew he'd already had a yellow card.

"I was saying, 'Calm down, leave it, leave it', and he was saying, 'OK, OK'. I'm only five foot, eight inches and he's a big lad so I was struggling to get my arms around him.

"Peter, the lad who sits next to me at the ground, helped me and he's a police officer who sometimes works at Anfield on match days.

"Afterwards all the lads were laughing and patting me on the back as well as having a go at Smalling."