Chelsea boss Carlo Ancelotti hopes Manchester City striker http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Mario-Balotelli-c23937 improves his behavior
Chelsea boss Carlo Ancelotti revealed he was hoping that Manchester City striker, Mario Balotelli, is axed from the squad for their trip to Stamford Bridge on Sunday. The Blues boss spoke after rumors that Manchester City boss Roberto Mancini was considering
dropping the 20-year-old for the Chelsea clash because of his sending off in the Europa League fixture against Dynamo Kiev on Thursday.
Balotelli was shown a red card after the striker planted his studs into the chest of Dynamo Kiev's http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Goran-Popov-c15165. The sending off in the crucial fixture cost the Premier League side the match as they were eliminated from the second tier European competition.
Even though the Italian striker issued an official apology to his teammates, Mancini is reportedly furious with the striker.
There has yet to be an official statement from Mancini in regards to whether he will indeed leave the player out of the crucial clash against the Blues. Ancelotti revealed he hoped that would be the case because he knew Balotelli was an excellent player,
he said while speaking to reporters, “He's a fantastic player so I'd prefer him to stay out. Technically, he's one of the best players out there.”
Ancelotti said he felt the young forward had potential to be one of the best strikers in the world if could improve his behavior. Balotelli has previously been involved in many controversies on and off the pitch. When he was with Inter Milan, then coach
Jose Mourinho left him out of the squad because of his apparent lack of effort in training and during matches.
Apart from his row with Mourinho, Balotelli was criticized by Inter Milan skipper http://www.senore.com/Football-soccer/Chelsea-c38786 in the quarterfinals of the Champions
League. After a particularly poor performance against Barcelona, Balotelli responded to the booing fans by taking off his shirt and throwing it on the ground.
Displays like this, for whatever reason, did not make him too popular with the Inter Milan fans. After about six years at the club, Balotelli arrived at the Eastlands under former boss Roberto Mancini for an estimated fee of £24 million. He has scored 10
goals in 18 appearances so far, the same number of goals he managed last season. If he is to improve his goal tally he will have to improve his behavior.
Ancelotti was sympathetic towards his fellow countryman, whom he felt was treated a little too harshly. The former AC Milan boss was certain the young striker was misunderstood and could do much better with a change of attitude. He also revealed that he
was looking forward to Balotelli cleaning up his act and doing well for his country and club in the future.
The Italian continued, “He had a lot of problems with his behavior on the pitch, also in Italy, but I'm not able to judge him. He's one of the best young players in Italy and Italian football needs this kind of quality. Everyone in Italy hopes he will improve
his behavior on the pitch. The Italian national team needs him in the squad. We hope his behavior improves.”
Tags: