Italian striker Mario Balotelli has been at the center of numerous incidents of racism in his career with the Italian national team, but he bluntly said today that he will "kill" any racists planning to attack him at Euro 2012.
The BBC show "Panorama" ran an episode this week exposing fan racism in Poland and Ukraine, the two countries that will be hosting Euro 2012, which starts June 8th.
When asked about the possibility of racist attacks at Euro 2012, Balotelli didn't hold back.
Balotelli had this to say to France Football Magazine, as reported by Reuters:
"I will not accept racism at all.... If someone throws a banana at me in the street, I will go to jail because I will kill them. It was lucky the police arrived quickly because I swear, I would have beaten them. I would really have destroyed them."
Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk quickly tried to quiet the growing concern, saying that "nobody who comes to Poland will be in any danger because of his race."
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