Bitter comeback for Mario Balotelli
Mario Balotelli’s adventure in the UAE, wearing the Al-Ittifaq jersey, began with a defeat. Starting among the starters with the number 9 shirt, the Italian center forward did not make an impact and his team lost 3-2 to the Emirates Club, thus missing the opportunity to disengage from the last position in the standings. The goals for SuperMario’s new team were scored by Swiss Davide Mariani and Lebanese Alaa Mezher, but on the other side the goals scored by Junior Hore and Brazilians Fabinho and Leandrinho were worth the three points.
The team was able to win the game.
Balotelli had already trained with Al-Ittifaq’Al-Ittifaq but the official presentation had come on Friday, on the eve of his first game. “A name that needs no introduction – Al-Ittifaq had written, on social networks, in the brief note published by the Dubai-based club – A presence that speaks for itself: the story continues together”. not even the arrival of the former Inter Milan, Manchester City, Milan and Liverpool, among others, however, managed to avoid the fourth league defeat in a row, eleventh overall.
The Al-Ittifaq team has been able to avoid the fourth defeat in a row in the league, eleventh overall.
At Al-Ittifaq, Balotelli is working with an Italian president, Pietro Laterza of Verona. The latter himself, in the days before the official presentation, had told of having considered the 35-year-old striker, fresh from a lackluster experience at Genoa, after an online consultation on specialized sites. “It all came about from a search on Transfermarkt among players without a contract, he had said-. As soon as we read his name, we initiated contacts with the entourage. He is motivated and is well, he will be our bomber”.
Balotelli’s new teammates include two other Italians: in fact, the group includes Jacopo Da Riva, a 2000 midfielder who grew up at Atalanta, and 21-year-old defender Gianluca Santini, who came from Livorno’s youth sector. L’Al-Ittifaq is also counting on Balotelli’s goals to reinvigorate an attack that has scored just 10 times in 13 matches.
For Balotelli, this experience marks another jersey change in his career. After making his senior debut at Lumezzane he has, in fact, worn the uniforms of Inter, Manchester City, Milan, Liverpool, Nice, Marseille, Brescia, Monza, Adana Demirspor, Sion and Genoa, winning, among other trophies, the Triplete with the Nerazzurri in 2010 and the historic Premier League won by City on the last day of the 2011-2012 championship.
