Euro 2012: Gazzetta's King Kong cartoon enrages Mario Balotelli camp• Gazzetta dello Sport admits it should have shown better taste
• Bastian Schweinsteiger fit to start semi-final for Germany
Italy's preparations for their semi-final against Germany have been sidetracked by a race row after Gazzetta dello Sport published a cartoon depicting Mario Balotelli as King Kong.
The cartoon shows the Italy striker on the top of Big Ben, swatting away footballs, and has prompted so many complaints since publication that the newspaper has now offered a contrite admission that it ought to have shown greater "moderation, caution and good taste".
There was no apology, however, and the Balotelli camp are deeply unhappy by what has been described behind the scenes as a "horrible" piece of work, particularly given the history of racist abuse the Manchester City player has suffered and the flashpoints that have occurred at Euro 2012.
Spain and Croatia supporters have been accused of targeting him with monkey chants during their group games, and a banana was thrown on to the pitch during the Croatia match.
The cartoonist, Valerio Marini, was trying to project the image of Balotelli dominating England during the quarter‑final in Kiev on Sunday, when Roy Hodgson's team lost on penalties. Gazzetta, Italy's largest-selling sport newspaper, has accepted, however, that the cartoon "maybe wasn't the cartoonist's best work".
"In these times we need to show greater moderation, caution and good taste but we have always fought against racism, and condemned booing against Balotelli as unacceptable."
Kick It Out, the anti-racism campaign group, has expressed sympathy for the City forward and questioned Gazzetta's judgment. "Mario's such an important person in Italian football," a spokesman said.
"Aspiring players in Italy who want to follow in his footsteps could wonder what support they will have when they get to his level when they see cartoons like that. It is not the first time we have seen this sort of depiction of Mario and we think the media have a responsibility. How do they think they can portray him like that?''
Balotelli had said at the start of the tournament that if he heard himself being racially abused he would consider walking off the pitch. His representatives were dismayed by the response of the Uefa president, Michel Platini, who said that would mean him being shown a yellow card.
The Italians, will face a fully fit Bastian Schweinsteiger on Thursday night after the German coach, Joachim Löw, revealed the midfielder is ready to start the semi-final. Schweinsteiger has been struggling with an ankle problem and Löw admitted he was poor in the 4-2 quarter-final win over Greece. But the Bayern Munich player was able to play a full part in training and is set to retain his place.
"Schweinsteiger had problems, but it's not as if these were hindering him," Löw said. "Against Greece he was poor, but he realises that himself. Against Italy that won't happen. There are only 100% fit players. No player will run out if he is only operating at 80 or 90% capacity. All players are fit, I assume Schweinsteiger will play."
Germany, the favourites with Spain to win the European Championship, are the only team to have won every game so far, but produced an error-strewn display against the Greeks.
http://www.guardian.co.uk/football/2012/jun/26/euro-2012-mario-balotelli-king-kong
