Brescia coach Eugenio Corini felt they had “done enough” to get a point in Verona, even with the added difficulty of Mario Balotelli receiving racist abuse.

The Rondinelle lost the match 2-1 at the Bentegodi, despite a late Balotelli goal, but the game was halted for several minutes after the striker heard racist abuse from the stands.

Brescia coach Eugenio Corini felt they had “done enough” to get a point in Verona, even with the added difficulty of Mario Balotelli receiving racist abuse.

The Rondinelle lost the match 2-1 at the Bentegodi, despite a late Balotelli goal, but the game was halted for several minutes after the striker heard racist abuse from the stands.

Balotelli threatened to walk off the field, but was convinced to remain by his teammates and opponents, particularly words of advice from Daniele Gastaldello (pictured).

“Mario is a good lad. He heard something from the stands and his teammates did well to reassure him,” Corini said in a press conference.

“The referee also read the situation well by temporarily suspending the game. From there on, the match became more difficult and it was played in a strange atmosphere, but we thought we’d done enough to balance it out.

“These were two teams who faced off openly and it was a hard-fought encounter. We did a little more in the first half and Verona only opened the scoring on a corner.

“I liked our reaction after going 2-0 down, because it was not easy to keep our heads in the game at that point. We came very close to an equaliser and there are regrets at emerging empty-handed.

“We knew Verona were dangerous on set plays and that’s the regret, as they created very little otherwise.”

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