«That’s why I beat Balotelli after Inter-Barcelona»- Corriere.it

The quarrel between Marco Materazzi and Mario Balotelli inspectors in 2010, in the year of Inter’s Treble with José Mourinho, is now known. On the one hand, the defender, who four years earlier scored the header in the 2006 World Cup final in Germany against France (later scoring one of five penalties); on the other, the almost 20-year-old striker, at the time with many, many dreams in his drawer. Two not easy characters, but the spark between the two degenerated on the night of the semi-final first leg against Barcelona of the former Ibrahimovic, coached by Pep Guardiola, won 3-1 by the nerazzurri.

It was 20 April 2020 and at the end of the match Balotelli threw his shirt to the ground after starting from the bench. “I gave him a good beating, it’s true. I love Mario, but he really deserved it that day », Materazzi’s words reported by the Daily Mail. “Now we’re friends again, practically brothers, but he did something that day that he shouldn’t have done. Throwing the shirt on the ground after the final whistle wasn’t even the worst thing.” It’s still: «Before the match, on the team bus, he told us: “Today I will play badly”, so I promised to make him pay if he did. When he came on, he tried a shot from midfield rather than going on the counterattack. Diego Milito wanted to kill him.” Materazzi doesn’t stop here in his story: «We believed in Mario, he scored many goals and contributed to the victory, but a week later I asked Mourinho to put me against Balotelli in the practice matches. After a few seconds, I had sent him back to the dressing room », he added.

The former defender also revealed that the father of Mario he had tried to convince his son to change his lifestyle during his adventure at Inter, adding: «I really loved his father. After a game with Rubin Kazan, he said to Mario: “I didn’t like your performance, you need to play more for your teammates. And stop hanging out with girls!” What an idol.”