Another week, another racism scandal involving an English club

Manchester City are to lodge a complaint to UEFA over the alleged racial abuse of a number of their players during last night’s Europa League clash with Porto.

Mario Balotelli and Yaya Toure are believed to have been the subject of racist taunts and monkey noises from an element of the Porto support and a club representative told the assembled media after the game that a complaint would be made to European football’s governing body.

The abuse from the Porto supporters seemed to reach fever pitch when Balotelli was substituted towards the end and the Italian striker reported the abuse to club officials afterwards.

Yaya Toure, although not subject to the same level of abuse as Balotelli, was also targeted and he spoke of his disappointment at the actions of the Porto fans after the game.

“That’s why we all like the Premier League, because it never happens there,” he said.

“Maybe in foreign countries they don’t expect black players. I think in future it will be okay, they will change their minds and the game will become more open.

“Football is football and the fans come to enjoy the game, and we don’t want things like this to happen. Mario is now able to control things like this and that is very important for the club.”

Following on from the John Terry/Anton Ferdinand and Luis Suarez/Patrice Evra cases, the incident involving Balotelli showed that racism is an issue that continues to blight football and isn't going to go away for some time yet.

Then again, when the head of world football doesn't believe it exists, you know you're fighting an uphill battle.