New AC Milan signing Mario Balotelli has been called "a little n*****" by the club's vice-president - who is also the brother of owner and former Italian leader Silvio Berlusconi.

Paolo Berlusconi made the remark at a political rally on Sunday, just before Italy striker Balotelli made a goalscoring debut for Milan against Udinese.

SEE VIDEO OF PAOLO BERLUSCONI'S COMMENTS BELOW

"Right we are all off to see the family's little n*****. He's a madhead. All the young ladies are invited as well - you can even have a chance to meet the president (Silvio Berlusconi)," Paolo Berlusconi said of Balotelli, a recent signing from Manchester City.

The comments brought laughter at the rally, just outside Milan, but Italian media was said to have fielded dozens of complaints.

Ironically, Balotelli's new Milan teammate Kevin-Prince Boateng this season walked off the pitch during a friendly match because of racist abuse from the crowd.

Newspaper boss Paolo Berlusconi has previously been found guilty false accounting and corruption.

Three-time Italian Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi, leader of the right-wing People of Freedom party and AC Milan's owner for 27 years, is again running in the country's general election despite having previously been convicted of tax evasion and charged with having sex with an under-age prostitute.

He caused widespread offence last month when, on Holocaust Remembrance Day, he said Italy's former Fascist leader Benito Mussolini had done "good" and was right to have sided with Adolf Hitler during World War II.