The Old Lady will play their next home game behind closed doors as a punishment after some of their crowd chanted 'a black Italian does not exist' at the Ghanaian-born hitman.

Although the jeers in last weekend's 1-1 draw seemed quite racist, Mourinho cited other reasons behind the unpleasant incident.

"I don't think it's racism," Mourinho told a press conference. "It's an ignorant, stupid, infantile way to show that I don't like this player.

"Why? Not because he's African, but because he's good, because he scores against my team, because he dribbles, because he's difficult to mark."

The Portuguese tactician pointed out if these fans were really racist, they would abuse their own black players as well.

"If it's racism, it's racism for all, not just for opposition players," he said.

Mourinho referred that Balotelli, who's a part of Italy's under-21 squad, has suffered similar abusive chants before.

"If I can say something in Juventus' defence it is that it is not the first time Mario has been the victim of these chants," the former Chelsea manager stated.

"It's happened at many stadiums and even at our home ground."