Manchester City Football Club News

• Nickname:Sky Blues
• Founded:1887
• Manager:Roberto Mancini

• Ground:City of Manchester Stadium
• Capacity:48,000

Balotelli given Juve assurance

28 Aug 2010 - 11:10:32

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Manchester City striker Mario Balotelli has been given assurances from Juventus that he will not be the subject of more racial abuse when the two sides meet in the Europa League.

Juve were forced to play a match behind closed doors last season after their fans racially abused Balotelli while he was playing a Serie A match for former club Internazionale.

UEFA will be watching when City travel to Turin for a European match later in the season, but the club's chief executive, Jean-Claude Blanc, has reassured the Italian striker that there will be no repeat of the ugly scenes.

He said: "This will be the chance to demonstrate that the standard has been raised.

"Hopefully fans will behave the way they should be behaving and supporting the team and only this.

"Supporting your team is to support your team and not to make remarks of a racist nature toward other players.

"We will be extremely demanding and intransigent about this."

City will also take on Austrian side Salzburg and Lech Poznan of Poland in Group A of the Europa League.