Manchester City boss Roberto Mancini has heaped praise on Mario Balotelli for the way he handled himself in Portugal last week.
The striker was subjected to racist chanting during City's Europa League tie in Porto along with team-mate Yaya Toure and UEFA are now investigating the abuse.
However, Mancini believes his stars deserve nothing but credit for turning in a professional display as they claimed a 2-1 victory at the Estadio do Dragao against the defending champions in difficult circumstances.
Porto claim City's complaint is based on a misunderstanding but club officials are not convinced and have urged the authorities to take action after a section of the home crowd made monkey chants at Balotelli, which the Italian forward says he heard too even if his manager didn't.
Mancini said: "I was concentrating on the game and didn't hear it, but everywhere you go there are some people who are not so clever. This is life.
"I think Mario is strong enough to deal with this. It happened sometimes to him in Italy and has happened in France - but Mario is strong."
It's been suggested the chants were at their loudest when Balotelli was being substituted 12 minutes from the end.
UEFA announced in a statement: "Following a complaint lodged by Manchester City, UEFA has today opened disciplinary proceedings against Porto for the improper conduct of supporters (article 11 of the UEFA disciplinary regulations) during their UEFA Europa League round of 32 first-leg match against Manchester City last week.
"The UEFA control and disciplinary body will deal with the case on 29 March."