Soccer: ‘Let me live’ Balotelli tells media
(ANSA) – Milan, October 17 – AC Milan striker Mario Balotelli has called on the media to let him live after he was embroiled in the latest in a long series of furores before Italy’s 2-2 draw with Armenia on Tuesday.
The 23-year-old hit the headlines on Sunday for grappling with a TV cameraman who got too close and posting a tweet distancing himself from a role assigned to him as a symbol of the fight against the mafia. The player, whose career has been dogged by a long series of incidents of indiscipline, responded to his critics by coming off the bench to score the goal that earned the Azzurri a draw against the Armenians in Naples.
“Stop talking and talking and talking and live and let live!,” Balotelli said via his Twitter account, @FinallyMario, late on Wednesday.
“Live and let me live and you’ll see the differences!”.
Giancarlo Abete, the head of the Italian Soccer Federation (FIGC), said on Monday that Balotelli needed to be more careful, but he also stressed that media attention devoted to him was excessive and that he was in “the eye of the hurricane”.
Italy coach Cesare Prandelli said this week that Balotelli would have the national team’s full support.
“Balotelli has gone through some days of clear unease,” Prandelli told ANSA on Wednesday. “We have to rally around him even more. I reiterate that I don’t like crusades. “We all realise that he is irreplaceable if we are going to raise our standards. He has to be integrated even more”.