Mario Balotelli banned, fined for racist tweet

London: Liverpool striker Mario Balotelli has been suspended for one match, fined £25,000 (Dh92,000) and ordered to attend to an education course after making racist and anti-semitic comments.

Balotelli had already accepted a charge of an aggravated breach of Football Association rule E3, relating to references of ethnic origin, colour, race, nationality or religion or belief, after his posting of an image of computer game character Super Mario on Instagram which included the words “jumps like a black man and grabs coins like a Jew”.

The Italy international did not request a personal hearing, but submitted written mitigation to an independent disciplinary panel, who handed out the punishment on Thursday.

Balotelli will now miss Sunday’s Premier League clash with Arsenal at Anfield after deciding against an appeal.