Sixth Golden Tapir for Mario Balotellifresh back in Serie A with the Genoa shirt after four years of absence. A few days after the announcement of his arrival in the rossoblù, Grifone chose him for the bench Patrick Vieirathe very coach with whom SuperMario had ‘clashed’ when both were at Nice. “It’s not true that I didn’t get along in Nice, it’s that I wanted to go and play in Marseille,” Balotelli explained to Striscia la Notistica correspondent Valerio Staffelli. “We had some differences on some football ideas, but on a personal level we always got along. You should give the Tapir to him!”. And Supermario jokes about his teammate Vieira: “We played together at Inter and City: he was calm but he was a bit of a nuisance.”
Just today, Patrick Vieira himself presented himself at a press conference (two days before Ferraris’ match against Cagliari), thus answering questions about Balotelli: “Italian football has changed a lot, there are different players but Serie A is a very difficult championship to play. It’s not easy to win but we have the quality to do well. I know Mario very well, he is a player and a person who I like. He must continue to work and be available to the team, helping them to do well and win. read Vieira’s full press conference here).
Tapir a @MarioBalotteli arrived at Genoa shortly before #PatrickVieira (who had harshly criticized him during his time at Nice)
«We had different football ideas: you should give the Tapir to him!» #Striscialanotizia #MarioBalotelli @VStaffelli pic.twitter.com/YT4GZer5c3— Striscia the news (@Striscia) November 22, 2024