Croatia coach Slaven Bilic launched a scathing attack on his team’s ‘crazy’ fans who threw a banana on the pitch as Mario Balotelli was subbed during Thursday’s game against Italy in Poznan.

Balotelli did not see the banana — a photograph only emerged the following day. But UEFA also received reports of monkey chanting from a group of Croat fans and charged the Croatian FA with ‘improper conduct’.

The case will be heard on Tuesday and there is a possibility that UEFA could impose the same six-point suspended sentence for the Euro 2016 qualifiers that Russia received last week for violent fan behaviour in Wroclaw.

Bilic said: ‘It (racism) is a big problem all around the world and on behalf of the entire nation, not even as a football manager, I want to say that I am really disappointed as a Croatian, a parent and a sportsman, a person who comes from a modern, open-minded and tolerant state.

« Previous123Next »