Brescia have defended Massimo Cellino over his controversial comments about striker Mario Balotelli, insisting they were merely a ‘misunderstood joke’.
Cellino, who owned and was the chairman of Leeds United, is now in control of the Serie A club and has come under serious scrutiny for his controversial comments.
Former Manchester City and Liverpool striker Balotelli has dominated headlines in Italy this past month after he was racially abused during a game against Hellas Veronas.
The 29-year-old was then dropped from the squad to face Roma this weekend after a fallout with head coach Fabio Grosso, prompting him to storm out of training.
When asked for an update, Cellino remarked: “What should I tell you about him? He is black, but he is working to clear himself but is having many difficulties.
“In football there are teams that fight and win, if we think that a player on his own can win matches, we would be offending the team. Otherwise, we would play one against eleven.”
A club statement was subsequently released; labelling the comments as a ‘joke’ that was ‘misunderstood’.
It read: “Concerning the declarations released this afternoon by president Massimo Cellino, referring to our player Mario Balotelli, Brescia evidently deem it to be a paradoxical joke and clearly misunderstood.
“It was said in an attempt to defuse excessive media exposure, as well as with the intent to protect the player himself.”
Cellino also hinted at a possible sale in January by claiming Balotelli has become a distraction to the team.
“The manager made a mistake by speaking in the press conference about only Balotelli and not about the team as a whole,” Cellino continued.
“I signed him at the end of the window, not to sell tickets, but because he could be of real value.
“But it’s now become a point of weakness because of the overexposure.
“If we keep talking about him, it’ll only hurt us and him.”
