Premier League - Mancini warns unprofessional Balotelli
Mario Balotelli has been warned about his future behaviour by Manchester City boss Roberto Mancini after he hauled the controversial striker off for showboating after just 30 minutes of his side's friendly with LA Galaxy.
The 20-year-old Italian had already put City ahead from the spot after Micah Richards had been fouled before the bizarre incident. Balotelli was then sent clear of the home defence on the half hour but instead of attempting to score normally, he tried a complicated pivot, followed by a backheel which rolled wide.
Mancini immediately took Balotelli off, before sharing a few heated words with his fellow Italian. Talking to various newspapers after the match, which City won 7-6 on penalties following a 1-1 draw in normal time, Mancini said: "I hope this is a lesson for him. In football you always need to be professional, always serious and in this moment he wasn't professional."
He added: "If you are serious, you can play 90 minutes. If not, you can come and sit by me on the bench."
The striker responded with a few choice words of his own to the City chief as he made his way to the bench, indicating that he did not understand what he had done wrong.
Mancini replied, presumably pointing out how disrespectful the move had been.
Balotelli angrily took his place on the bench before throwing his water-bottle to the ground in disgust.
He did not return to the dug-out for the second half, further fuelling an already tempestuous relationship with Mancini.
"He needs to understand his behaviour has to be good in every game - not just in a final or a semi-final but every game," Mancini added.
"He knows he made a mistake. Football should always be serious and if you have a chance to score, you should score."
Comment 1 - 20 of 20
I love how City fans defending this morons lack of skill and respect (in the same rubbish move) are claiming biased journalism, journalism only seems biased against you due to the circus show you like to call management. same goes for Chelsea fans. Both clubs are run by morons with more money than sense- Torres, Shevchenko (both forced, both resulted in managers sacking due to being past it/ season long 'patch' of bad form, whatever) Balotelli, and let's be honest any other City striker other than Tevez.
No bias, just laughter.
Ha thats Micah Richards in the pic!!
trebor., wrong! they were singing you`ll never BE united, a ref to what becks said the other day remember?
Comment 18. Banana Republic.
Soccer is an English slang word, thought to have been coined by Charles Wreford-Brown. He was born in 1866 in Bristol.
It's an abbreviation for Association Football. He's sometimes credited with inventing the word Rugger for Rugby Football.
He died in 1951 aged 85.
@adam, Everybody should be aware by now that Eurosport "journalism" borders on c rap . The same applies to any media outlet or sports writers who insist on referring to football as "soccer" !!
Even as a City fan i thought it was a bit harsh by Mancini to bring Balotelli off like he did, for christs sake it was a friendly not a crucial premier game, he should have the same respect for players and he demands from them, the he went about this was all wrong.
From now on i am going to refer to Roberto Mancini as The Headmaster, no room for naughty boys........thankfully we got rid of Barton.....now he was and still is a bad boy, wonder what Mancini would have done about him ?
Looks like he's introduced the "more power over players" policy already.
get rid of him - now.
Get rid of him the geezer is a @#$% head.
Thje managers' reaction does seem over the top.
We don't know what was said before the match, do we?
If Balotelli was disobeying a specific instruction that would explain the mangers' ire.
I wouldn't put it past him.
#8- they obviously aint seen the semi final then.
#8- they obviously aint seen the semi final then.
It's a friendly. I don't get the uproar. One guy won the European championships with a cheeky chip penalty into the centre of the goal - what if the keeper hadn't dived and saved it? what if Balotelli HAD scored, Mancini would be laughing and people would be calling him a slightly bonkers genius ..... Rene Haguetta did his scorpion kick against England in a friendly, and we all laughed, it wasn't disrespectful at all
Even though the guy is an absolute loon and I'm not the biggest $hity fan in the world, give him a break. He was doing a bit of exhibition stuff in a friendly game. It's not the end of the world. Mancini's reaction was well over the top. A quiet word at the break would have done. Mancini must love having an unhappy dressing room, he keeps signing all these loose canons and expecting them to turn into boy scouts.
"Galaxy fans now singing "'You'll never beat United' to the City fans."
wht did you import this piece of @#$% to uk in the first place?
@russell...you expect anything different? Get on these articles long enough....espnsoccernet has the same apparent journalist issues
Am here baby looking for what your looking 4..just hit me back and i´ll cry 4 u
lazy @#$% journalism , in your vendetta against Man City , you cannot even post the right picture ,
That is Micah Richards,
boll.ocks man i wanted to be first post for the first time...spammers are out already...yay.
Warns Mario??? How many warnings does this lad get? Parking tickets....mouthing off....red cards...darts...articles of clothing too troublesome to figure out(just more of a joke on him really)...scrapping at training....now this. Its not the end of the world like some of our fans are saying on the forums (bluemoon forums ablaze with some right tripe)....but this lad is really, seriously, utterly bonkers. Let's hope this is his last escapade because we will need him, and I really think he can terrorise defenders this year....Tevez Balotelli Aguero Silva Yaya Nasri vs Swansea....proper kackin' it!!!!!
Please login to post a comment
Not already a Yahoo! user ? Sign up to get a free Yahoo! Account