Coach says he took player ‘by the neck’, talks about Manchester City training ground spat

 

Mario Balotelli left Liverpool this summer on a free transfer to sign for Ligue 1 side OGC Nice. The former Manchester City star has started off his career at Nice impressively, and has six goals to his name in five games.

His former Manchester City coach Roberto Mancini has been speaking to French newspaper L’Equipe, and was asked about a training ground spat with Balotelli. The incident was well reported at the time, and Mancini not averse to talking about it.

Mancini insists he grabbed Balotelli by the neck after a tackle on Gael Clichy, who had just returned from an injury, but it was nothing as serious as made out in the media.

He said “I told the players before training not to make stupid mistakes on (Gael) Clichy, who was returning from injury, and then Mario made a tackle. I was angry!

“I took Mario by the neck, wanting to push him away, but as he is physically strong, I had trouble moving him.”

Mancini explained insinuations the pair had “come to blows’ were nonsense. L’Equipe have published a long interview with Mancini today, where he had a lot of good things to say about Balotelli, and it’s clear he’s always been fond of both the footballer and the man.