Mario Balotelli apologizes for racist, anti-semetic Instagram post; FA to investigate

The Football Association will investigate Mario Balotelli's social media post in which the Liverpool striker uploaded an image containing a racist and anti-semitic message.

The post contained the image of Nintendo's Super Mario, with the offensive message appearing at the bottom of the picture.

The image was quickly deleted and Balotelli has since issued an apology, claiming the post was an attempt at being anti-racist.

After attracting plenty of criticism on social media, Balotelli took to Twitter in an attempt to defend the anti-semitic portion of the post:

Balotelli faces a minimum ban of five matches if the FA concludes he's guilty of improper social media conduct, based on its social media guidelines for race-related violations.

A Liverpool spokesman says the club is aware of the post and intends to speak with the Italian striker, according to the BBC, while the chief executive of the Jewish Leadership Council, Simon Johnson, offered his criticism of the post.

"We abhor all forms of racism, wherever it is found," Johnson told The Telegraph. "We call upon the FA to investigate this offensive social media post and to take action if appropriate if we are to succeed in kicking racism out of football."