EVENING BOLLOXBalotelli blasts Mou and English media Mario Balotelli claims Jose Mourinho is “rude and as a man Roberto Mancini is 10km in front of him,” then blasted the “trash” English media.
The former Inter star had numerous run-ins with Mourinho and it seems there is still a great deal of antipathy between them.
“Mourinho may be the best Coach in the world, but he still needs to learn respect and how not to be so rude,” SuperMario told the Gazzetta dello Sport’s new side project Extra Time.
“Mancini is the most important tactician I’ve ever had. He will soon become the best in the world. As a man he is already 10km in front of Mourinho.”
Balotelli also commented on his teammates at Manchester City.
“Adam Johnson has great technique and Emmanuel Adebayor is the funniest. Patrick Vieira and Aleksandr Kolarov really helped me out when I first arrived.
“However, England is far ahead of the rest in terms of stadia and far behind in terms of its media. The newspapers are just trash,” he blasted.
“All I can say about Sophie is that I saw her once and she started bombarding me with messages, while one of her friends was far more interesting to me.”
Turning his attention back to Serie A and world football, the former Inter forward cast his eye over the soccer scene.
“Who will win the Scudetto? Instinctively I’d say Milan, but if I think about it a bit more, then I’ll say Inter, who gave me so much. If I think it over again, then I want Napoli to win! I’d love to play alongside Edinson Cavani.
“The best player in Serie A is Zlatan Ibrahimovic, as he is basically from another planet. I’d pick Sebastian Giovinco as the best young Italian.
“I don’t believe Leo Messi deserved the Ballon d’Or, as it should’ve gone to Wesley Sneijder.”
REAL BOLLOX (see what I did there)
Real Madrid may try to sign Manchester City striker Carlos Tevez if they fail to lure Hamburg striker Ruud van Nistelrooy, sports daily Marca said on Monday.
Tevez made a shock transfer request in December, blaming bad relations with the City management, but withdrew the demand later in the month after clear-the-air talks with the Premier League club.
Real Madrid had already contacted City, Marca said.
There were two big hurdles, the paper said: firstly, that City would insist on a transfer rather than a loan, and secondly that a transfer would cost €40 million and the Argentine's annual salary was €8 million.
Hamburg has rebuffed Real Madrid's efforts to bring over 34-year-old Van Nistelrooy, saying he will not be allowed to leave and must complete his contract.
Real Madrid are trying to fill the gap left by Gonzalo Higuain, who could be out of action for another four months following surgery on January 12 for a slipped disc and may not return to full fitness for a year.
Real are four points behind Spanish first division leaders Barcelona after a shock 1-1 draw at bottom side Almeria on Sunday.
(Caughtoffside have the same story but have the headline of "
Real Madrid Make £33m Bid for Manchester City Striker Carlos Tevez")
Manchester City have scouted Bordeaux’s Alou Diarra, and could sign him before the end of the January transfer window, according to the French club’s president, Jean-Louis Triaud.
Although Roberto Mancini has yet to make a formal approach for the France midfielder, the 29-year-old has been linked with a move to many top European sides following several impressive seasons in Ligue 1.
Triaud admitted that “we have not had any approach from them till now… But this does not mean they are not close to the player”.
This does seem to smack of wishful thinking on Triaud’s part; at 29-years-old and valued at £6m, Diarra is hardly the type of grandiose star that City are linked with these days. Never mind the fact that the last thing needed at Eastlands is another defensive midfielder.
Nevertheless, Diarra’s club bosses appear convinced he will soon be on his way, and that City is his most likely destination.
Mancini defends Given stanceBlues boss wary of switching goalkeepers too often
Manchester City manager Roberto Mancini has defended his decision to leave Shay Given on the bench for most of the season.
The Italian boss has rotated his star-studded squad this season to keep his regulars fresh and keep some fringe players happy by giving them enough game-time.
But Given has been handed just four appearances all season, with Joe Hart preferred in goal for City's other 28 games.
Given was City's first-choice keeper when Mancini took charge a year ago, with Hart having been sent on loan to Birmingham, but the 23-year-old England keeper has been preferred since his return to Eastlands.
Given is set to be handed a rare start in Tuesday night's FA Cup third-round replay against Leicester and at 34, the Republic of Ireland international is keen to leave City and reignite his career, potentially going initially on loan.
But Mancini is against tinkering with players in such an important role and is wary of leaving himself short having been forced to sign Marton Fulop on an emergency loan last season, so warned Given it is not certain a move will be granted.
"It is not a simple position," he said.
"You can change the other players every game but the goalkeeper is different.
Fantastic keeper
"That is the only reason why Shay has not played so often because he is a fantastic goalkeeper."
Veteran midfielder Patrick Vieira is in a similar situation having started just two Premier League games this term, although he has made eight appearances in cup competitions.
The Frenchman, also 34, is one of a several fringe players that could come in at Eastlands as City look to secure a fourth-round trip to Notts County.
"Patrick Vieira is an important member of our squad," said Mancini. "He is a good player, who has lots of experience.
"He will probably play, along with Jerome Boateng, James Milner, David Silva, Jo and Joleon Lescott. We have other players that we can win this game.
"I don't like this replay because we have a lot of matches to play until the end of the season already," he added.
"But we want to win because we want to get to Wembley. For me, that is very important."
City are firmly in the Premier League title race and have reached the Europa League knock-out stage and although they made a tame exit from the Carling Cup, this year's FA Cup represents a great opportunity for the Blues to win their first major trophy since 1976.
Ayegbeni Yakubu is ineligible for Leicester`s FA Cup third-round replay against Manchester City.
The loan signing from Everton, who marked his debut with a goal at Preston on Saturday, was not with the Foxes for the initial tie eight days ago and therefore cannot feature at Eastlands.
With Darius Vassell carrying a knock, Steve Howard could lead Leicester`s attack against the joint-leaders of the Premier League.
Vassell`s possible absence aside, Sven-Goran Eriksson could name the same side that drew 2-2 with big-spending City at the Walkers Stadium. Eriksson will be making his first return to Eastlands since he was sacked as manager of Manchester City in the summer of 2008. With Notts County awaiting the winner in round four, the Swede will be looking to set up another return to a former club. Eriksson was director of football at Notts last season.
Tottenham are in pole position to land Steven Pienaar - even though Everton agreed a £3m fee to sell him to Chelsea. The South African has so far failed to agree personal terms with Chelsea and wants to push through a move to Spurs. goal.com
Newcastle United have turned down a transfer bid from Tottenham, in the region of £15m, for star striker Andy Carroll. metro.co.uk
Anderlecht striker Romelu Lukaku has revealed that he rejected moves to Arsenal and Chelsea in his early teens - but he would love to play for any of the big clubs in the Premier League and is ready to move this summer. goal.com
Roma coach Claudio Ranieri has played down links with him taking the job of next permanent Liverpool manager. insidefutbol.com
Liverpool's Ryan Babel fined £10,000 for Twitter post Babel apologised on Twitter for his post about referee Webb
Liverpool striker Ryan Babel has been fined £10,000 over a Twitter post and warned about his future conduct.
The Dutch forward linked to a mocked-up picture of referee Howard Webb in a Manchester United shirt after Liverpool lost 1-0 at Old Trafford in the FA Cup.
Babel admitted a charge of improper conduct at a Football Association Regulatory Commission hearing.
"Social network sites like Twitter must be regarded as being in the public domain," said chairman Roger Burden.
Babel later apologised for the post but it was not enough for the 24-year-old to escape punishment on Monday.
Whereas a year ago Babel might have let off steam to his girlfriend, now he has this very convenient - and very tempting - tool at his fingertips that allows him to sound off to the world
"All participants need to be aware, in the same way as if making a public statement in other forms of media, that any comments would be transmitted to a wider audience," added Burden.
"It is their responsibility to ensure only appropriate comments are used."
In the FA Cup match on 9 January, Ryan Giggs scored the game's only goal from a second-minute penalty awarded by Webb for Daniel Agger's challenge on Dimitar Berbatov.
Webb later sent off Steven Gerrard in the 32nd minute for a challenge on Michael Carrick. Liverpool manager Kenny Dalglish labelled the penalty decision "a joke" and also disagreed with the red card for his captain.
In addition to posting a link to the doctored picture of Webb, Babel wrote: "And they call him one of the best referees. That's a joke." He subsequently removed the link and wrote an apology on Twitter.
The former Ajax player has more than 180,000 Twitter users - 20,000 of which were gained in the last week - following his updates and his messages and the offending image was subsequently reproduced by some media outlets.
Babel later wrote on Twitter: "My apology if they take my posted picture seriously. This is just an emotional reaction after losing an important game. Sorry Howard Webb."
He then joked about spending a spell in "Twitter jail" and his previously prolific posts stopped on 9 January.
Babel's use of the site has also been questioned before. In a tweet in January 2010 the player made public his displeasure at being dropped by then Reds boss Rafael Benitez in a tweet in January 2010
SWAG BONUSMCF.NET Thread viewtopic.php?f=119&t=36807£18M? YOU'RE 'AVING A LARFThere was astonishment today when a quite good club offered to spend quite a lot of money on a quite good player. Consensus was that the mooted £18m they are waving in the direction of Sunderland's bankers in the hope of luring Darren Bent Midlandswards represents "a lot of money for Aston Villa", as if money takes on a different value depending on the identity of the spender. By that logic, it would take Manchester City, say, about £50m to outbid Villa, but both clubs would be emphatically outspent if, say, the Dog & Duck in Wellingborough offered a couple of grand.
As it happens, 18 is an important number for Darren Bent, because it is also - when viewed in a mirror - exactly the number of league goals he has scored since the summer of 2005. Those 81 strikes amount to more Premier League goals than any human on earth except Wayne Rooney and Didier Drogba, who both play for much better teams and are only a single goal better off anyway. Frankly, the statistics are fairly promising - but even if 128 league goals in 261 career starts suggests Villa shouldn't worry too much either way, is Bent really worth £18m? The Fiver investigates.
• James Milner cost Manchester City £24m. Darren Bent is a more effective player than Milner. Bent is cheap.
• Lionel Messi cost Barcelona nothing but a few doctors' bills. Messi is a more effective player than Bent, who will probably cost Aston Villa some doctors' bills too at some point. Bent is expensive.
• You're only as good as the players around you. Bent is more expensive than any other Villa players, yet is only as good as them. Bent is expensive.
• Denilson cost Real Betis £21.5m, and that was in 1998, 13 years of rampant inflation ago. And he was rubbish. Bent is cheap.
• Bent is worth extra money because not only does he score a goal every other game but he is also English, and would therefore qualify as a home-grown player under Uefa regulations. This would be important in the extremely unlikely event of Aston Villa qualifying for European competition (and also signing lots of foreign players, because frankly they've got loads of home-grown talent at the moment). Bent is cheap.
• Kevin Phillips also scores a goal every other game and he is also English, yet in his entire career he has been the subject of a cumulative total of just over £5m in transfer fees. Bent is expensive.
• Bent may very well be good at his job, but will only be asked to perform a maximum of twice a week. A decent toaster is good at its job and may well be used every single day, and you can get one from Argos for about a tenner. Bent is expensive.
The Fiver regrets to inform readers that its in-depth investigation has been inconclusive.