Mario Balotelli wears his ninth shirt at Adana Demirspor. The Italian striker appeared as a great talent at Inter and left for Manchester City as an irreverent star. It was his character that pushed him to go out and move as instinctively as in the area to Milan, then on loan to Liverpool, Nice, Marseille, Brescia, Monza and now, Turkey.
In The Athletic, the man from Palermo reviews his entire career and leaves new phrases to add to a compilation of quotes and anecdotes to remember, now comparing himself exclusively in terms of quality with Cristiano Ronaldo and Leo Messi, historical rulers of the Ballon d’Or and considered two of the best soccer players in history.
Same quality as Messi and Cristiano: “I missed some opportunities to be at that level, but I’m sure my quality is at the same level as Messi and Cristiano, but I missed certain opportunities, you know? Sometimes it happens. Right now I can’t say I’m that good. like Cristiano because Ronaldo won, how many Ballon d’Ors? Five? You can’t compare, nobody can compare. But if we talk about quality, quality to play football, I have nothing to envy them, to be honest.”
City March: “My biggest mistake was leaving City. In the year I left, I played a good season and a half at Milan, but then I had problems. I’m older now, but I knew I shouldn’t have left City at that time. . All these years seeing them improve, improve and improve. I could have been a long time, like Aguero.”
Win the Ballon d’Or: “If I had had the mentality at City that I have now, I would have won a Ballon d’Or. I could have won it. I’m sure of this. But you know, you grow up, you’re more mature…”
The Premier won on the last day: “I wasn’t sure about winning that Premier League. I knew our team was impressive, but there were other good ones. United were very good. A lot of people ask me about that game and they say ‘QPR let you win’ and believe me they didn’t.” because they were playing really well that game.”
The Champions League with Inter or the Premier with City: “That day is the top. It was more sentimental than the Champions League. The Champions League is incredible and obviously the Champions League is the best thing you can win as a club, but the way we won with City. Everything. It was too much emotion until for me. It was amazing.”
