Twitter Reacts After Italy Fans Dedicate Euro 2020 Win To Meghan Markle: 'Balotelli Would Disagree'

Italy's Euro 2020 Final win sparked a debate among Twitter users after some Italians dedicated the team's victory to Meghan Markle.

Italy beat England during their final match at London's Wembley Stadium Sunday. Some Italian football fans were photographed holding a flag that said "Meghan one of us" after the match. Many took it as an indication that they were dedicating their victory to the Duchess of Sussex, who raised racism allegations against the British royal family.

"I love how the ITALIANS dedicated their win to Meghan Markle. It sends a message to Englishmen that their racists [sic] character is no longer entertained even by their neighbors," one tweeted.

"Meghan in the color of Italy leaving the Uk for good and now Italy winning the euro in London what a moment #Euro2020Final," another wrote.

"Italy claimed the EURO title AND Meghan Markle? England is down bad," another stated.

However, several netizens also went after the Italian fans and reminded them of how they treated Italian player Mario Balotelli. Some said the Italians were not really concerned of Markle because they just wanted to annoy the Englishmen.

"Mario Balotelli would disagree," one wrote.

"This would be nicer if Italian fans weren’t doing the same s--t to Mario Balotelli when they were throwing bananas at him," a second user added.

"Shallow. Racism is rife in Italy and italian football in particular. They weren’t taking a stand against racism they were trying to annoy English people because they think we hate her," a third user opined.

Balotelli, who was born in Italy to Ghanaian parents, endured extreme abuse in his home country. In 2019, the Brescia striker threatened to leave the pitch after Verona fans abused him with monkey chants during his team's 2-1 away loss in Serie A, CNN reported.

Balotelli was also pelted with bananas in a Rome bar before the European Under-21 Championship in June 2009. According to him, it was lucky that the police arrived quickly because he doesn't tolerate racism and would have destroyed his attackers. Days before the Euro 2012 Final in Poland and Ukraine, Balotelli swore that he would not tolerate the same act ever again.

"I will not accept racism at all. It's unacceptable. If someone throws a banana at me in the street, I will go to jail, because I will kill them," he was quoted by The Guardian, as saying.

Two years ago, Balotelli said that racism was worse in Italy than in any other country he has played in, including England. He made the statement after Napoli's Kalidou Koulibaly was also subjected to monkey chants from Inter Milan fans in December 2018.

"In England, on a football level, I never saw anything like this," Balotelli said on the Italian TV show "Quelli Che Il Calcio." "In France, I've not seen much -- but no one is like Italy. In Italy, it is really extreme."

Meanwhile, Prince William also released a statement against the racist attacks targeting team England players Bukayo Saka, Marcus Rashford and Jadon Sancho on social media after they missed penalty kicks. The Duke of Cambridge made it clear that he is strongly against racism

"I am sickened by the racist abuse aimed at England players after last night’s match," he wrote on Twitter. "It is totally unacceptable that players have to endure this abhorrent behavior. It must stop now and all those involved should be held accountable."