Roberto Mancini today claimed Mario Balotelli has the potential to be as good as the world’s top two players Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi.
The Manchester City manager has left the £24million striker out of his squads for the last two Premier League games against Tottenham and Aston Villa but is expected to name Balotelli (above) among the substitutes for tomorrow’s Champions League game at home to Real Madrid.
Mancini said: “Now he is 22 but life can go quickly and I hope he can improve everything because as a player he could be like Cristiano and Messi if he understands that to be like this you should work hard, your mind should be always on your job, not on the other things that are not important.”
City must beat Real to prolong their interest in the competition after another disastrous season that has seen them take two points from four games.
