Anti-discrimination campaigners have offered their support to Liverpool striker Mario Balotelli after police launched an investigation into a tide of racist abuse aimed at him on Twitter.
The 24-year-old Italian striker was bombarded with foul messages after he had tweeted "Man Utd...LOL" in response to the Old Trafford club's shock 5-3 Barclays Premier League defeat at promoted Leicester on Sunday afternoon.
Kick It Out contacted police after being alerted to the broadside by other social media users.
A spokesperson said: "We extend our support to Mario Balotelli after the appalling racist abuse directed at him on Twitter earlier today.
"A large number of social media users alerted us to the messages by tweeting our official account and we have since reported this via True Vision - the Police's online reporting facility.
"During the 2013/14 season, 50% of all complaints submitted to us from across the game related to social media abuse.
"The issue has been escalating and we urge fellow social media users to assist in bringing this type of abuse to the attention of the authorities by reporting directly to True Vision."
Merseyside Police have confirmed they are looking into the relevant comments.
In a statement, they said: "We can confirm officers are looking into offensive comments made on Twitter about Mario Balotelli earlier today."
Balotelli, who played the full 90 minutes in the Reds' 3-1 defeat at West Ham on Saturday evening, received a series of messages after sending his mischievous tweet.
One from an account with the username @CraigSainsbury read: "F*** you Mario you f****** n*****. Go eat some bananas and get ebola you dirty monkey." The account later appeared since to have been deleted.
It is not the first time the £16million frontman, who has had an eventful career to date, has found himself the target of racist abuse following a series of incidents in his native Italy on duty with the national team and former clubs Internazionale and AC Milan.
He spoke about his experiences in an interview with GQ magazine in July.
He said: "They aren't used to seeing people who are different, not white, who act not as rebels, but normally.
"I think what the ignorant people don't like is that people who are different are allowed to act that way.
"These stupid people, they get angry with me, they say horrible things, but I haven't done anything different from other people.
"I have made mistakes, like everyone does, and I have always paid for my mistakes. I think that if I was white maybe some people would still find me irritating or annoying, but it wouldn't be the same. Absolutely not.
"Jealousy is a horrible thing, but when this jealousy is towards people who are different from the majority, and who maybe also have more than you, then it becomes anger, it becomes rage, and that's the overt racism."
Kick It Out reported a 269% increase in incidents on the previous campaign during the 2013-14 season. Half of reported incidents - a total of 142 - involved social media.
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