Twitter is awash with outrage after some parents uploaded a picture of their baby who was ‘blacked up’ to look like the controversial former Manchester City star Mario Balotelli.

The parents are being branded as racists after smearing chocolate across the child’s face for the purposes of the picture which is believed to have first appeared on a Manchester United fan’s Instagram account.

At time of writing, Mail Online was reporting that the photo had been retweeted over 2000 times.

The baby also has the Italian striker’s slogan WHY ALWAYS ME? written across its baby clothing (apparently a ‘baby-gro’) and a yellow washing-up sponge stuck on its head in an attempt to mimic Super Mario’s hairstyle.

Parenting expert Sue Atkins, author of Parenting Made Easy: How To Raise Happy Children, told the Sunday Mirror:

Just looking at this picture makes me very uncomfortable, especially the fact the child is blacked up. I don’t like it at all.

See the ‘blacked up’ Balotelli baby above.

And, below, what a young Mario Balotelli really looked like. Cute, huh?

Baby Balotelli holding rossonero ball with brother Enock. #Balotelli twitter.com/Planetmilan/st…

— AC Milan 100% (@Planetmilan) February 9, 2013