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Mario Balotelli booked after pointing out racist abuse during Nice's defeat at Dijon, club claims

Nice's Italian forward Mario Balotelli controls the ball during the French L1 football match between Dijon FCO and OGC Nice on February 10, 2018
Image: Mario Balotelli in action for Nice against Dijon on Saturday

Nice claim Mario Balotelli was booked during Saturday's 3-2 defeat at Dijon for protesting to the referee about alleged racist abuse from the home crowd.

Balotelli was shown a yellow card by referee Nicolas Rainville after pointing out the reaction from supporters to him missing a chance during the second half at Stade Gaston-Gerard.

A message on Nice's Twitter feed read: "In the meantime, Mario Balotelli has inherited a yellow card after...getting annoyed with racist insults from the public."

The former Liverpool and Manchester City striker spoke out last year about monkey chants aimed at him by an opposing fan from Bastia, who confessed and was banned by the club.

Nice's Italian forward Mario Balotelli (R) talks with French referee Nicolas Rainville (L) during the French L1 football match between Dijon (DFCO)  and Ni
Image: Balotelli points out his alleged abuser during Nice's match against Dijon

Dijon goalkeeper Baptiste Reynet said: "I told Mario that I had not heard racist chanting but he replied to me that there were some. Two or three supporters apparently provoked him."

The team's manager Olivier Dall'Oglio added: "That is the first time that you hear about something like this at the Gaston-Gerard. We have a lot of players of colour and foreigners in our team, and we are very happy to have them.

"There has never been a problem with racism here. If these taunts existed, they are completely out of order… I didn't hear anything."

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Dijon battled back from conceding two goals in three minutes to claim a 3-2 victory when Kwon Chang-Hoon grabbed their winner six minutes from time.

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