Mario Balotelli once said he was as talented as Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo but has admitted he made mistakes that prevented him from reaching the high level that Messi and Ronaldo have attained in their careers.
Balotelli who is of Ghanaian origin could have represented the Black Stars but decided to play for Italy.
If I asked for your opinion of Mario Balotelli, what would you say?
We only played together for six months at Manchester City in the first half of the 2011-12 season, but it was enough time to get a feel for a guy who, we have to remember, had only just turned 20 when he arrived in England.
One story I will always remember from Carrington, the old training ground, was when somebody was talking about Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo. Mario piped up and said that he was just as good as them.
The room fell silent but his face didn’t change; he was deadly serious.
Mario was different, for sure, and while he was never quite as different as was made out, when I spoke to him last week — after five long months of tracking him down — I could not believe the change in the man.
“I missed some chances to be at that level,” he said of that conversation about Messi and Ronaldo. “But I am 100 per cent sure that my quality is the same level as these people, but I… I missed some chances, you know? It happens.
“And nowadays, I cannot say I’m as good as Ronaldo, because Ronaldo won how many golden balls (Ballons d’Or)? Five? You cannot compare yourself to Messi and Ronaldo, nobody can. But if we’re talking about only quality, football quality, I have nothing to be jealous of them, to be honest.”
Some may still laugh at that, coming from a 31-year-old at his ninth professional club, Adana Demirspor in Turkey, but it shows that Mario is aware of his place in the world and fully appreciates his situation now.
Source : theathletic.com
