Verona president Maurizio Setti defended the club's fans after Brescia striker Mario Balotelli kicked the ball into the stands claiming racist chants.

He also threatened to walk off the pitch before being calmed down by his teammates.

But Setti insisted: "We did not hear anything. I arrived in Verona eight years ago and immediately seen that the Verona fans are ironic, but absolutely not racist. When Balotelli made his debut here for Milan six years ago there were episodes of racism, and we condemned it. We have always done," Setti told reporters in the mixed zone.

"It is wrong to generalise, speaking for all 20,000 fans when, perhaps, a couple of people have said something. If there are two or three people who have said something, we are ready to take action against them because we condemn any episode of this type.

"But to speak of Verona as we were 30 years ago is wrong. We are a club that only has sport in our real DNA. There are many players of colour who wear the Gialloblu from the youth team to the first.

"Racism is a path for us that doesn't exist and Verona is not a correct position for generalisations. In eight years of my presidency, you could confirm this. The attitude of our fans is absolutely correct."