Mario Balotelli vows to win Ballon d'Or after returning to Liverpool

“In my view there weren’t enough, as I can do so much more than what I said. But it takes time,” the Liverpool striker told the Corriere della Sera newspaper.

“On the scale of 0 to 10, I stopped at five, but I’ll get to 10 eventually. I want to get there. I will win the Ballon d’Or.

“I do realise that I’ve spent two years of my career when I could’ve been getting closer to 10 and instead stayed at five. I know, the Ballon d’Or might seem laughable and I might not have done everything to be the best, but the important thing is I realised it’s not too late.

“I don’t want to reach the end of my career with the regret of not doing everything I can to be the best. Up until two years ago I made do with what I had. I did well, knew I could play, so I was happy. It wasn’t in my mind to improve, as I thought that was enough.

“Over the last two years I started working seriously, yet the results did not arrive. Maybe I am paying the price for the previous 23 years. I am relaxed, though, as I am aware that in the last two years things have changed completely.”

His loan spell at Milan proved unimpressive and he now returns to Anfield, where there is no guarantee of first team football.

“I hope to play at Liverpool next season. Milan decided to leave me. There will certainly not be another Mario’s back again moment there.”

“It was just a joke. At the end of the day, albeit with a few excesses, I don’t think I deserve all this attention, good and bad. This character has been created around me and I am not allowed to do anything more or less.

“I am not a hypocrite, I do get upset when I end up in the papers for doing something silly, but I don’t like it when they exaggerate in the positive either. Balotelli scores two goals? He’s a phenomenon! I’d just like to be a player like anyone else. Well, maybe a bit better than the others…

“Balotelli is the player. Mario is something else. It’s easier to describe Balotelli than Mario. Balotelli is the character created by the papers: the one who smiles or doesn’t smile, scores a great goal, misses a penalty, doesn’t celebrate and is judged by those who watch him play.

“Mario is a 25-year-old guy who cannot have a normal life, but tries, spending time with his daughter when possible, with friends, family, the PlayStation. Every now and then I tell my friends: what I’d give to swap places with you for a week. Just as long as you don’t create any chaos…

“Great responsibility is more for a person than a player. As a player, I am paid to score goals and I have to do that. Responsibility is in my behaviour. I am trying.

“Being a father is wonderful. I can’t be with Pia all the time, as her mother causes problems, but if I had her at my house every day I’d be the happiest man in the world.”

The rapport with his former partner Raffaella Fico is classed as “other problems". She asks for money that isn’t hers, wants me to meet with my daughter only in her presence. Two tribunals said she has no case, but she says they are non-binding rulings and does whatever she wants anyway.

“In order to get my father to meet her just once before he died, I had to get an order from the Tribunal, because her mother opposed it.”

Balotelli was born in Italy to Ghanaian parents, but adopted by a family in Brescia when he was two years old. Due to Italian law, as the adoption was not formalised, he could not gain Italian citizenship until the age of 18.

“Two years ago I reached the point of calling my agent and telling him I didn’t want to play for Italy anymore. It’s not right. I was born in Italy, grew up in Italy, I’ve never even been to Ghana – even if I will go – so for the law it’s only right that I am Italian.

“In order to get that certificate, which I hung up in my front hall, I spent hours queuing up at the authorities every year. Sometimes I’d like those who insult me by saying there are no black Italians to remember that.

“Ghana wanted me to play for them, but that was never going to happen. At the same time, none of this chaos would’ve happened either. I know it seems rough to say this, but if that moment of crisis had arrived when I had to make my decision, I don’t know if I would’ve chosen to play for Italy.

“It would’ve been the fault of a few stupid idiots, but I am not a robot and certain things do really hurt.

“I certainly didn’t have an easy life at the start. It was tough in Brescia to begin with, being one of the only black kids here, but I slowly settled in. The other kids wanted me to play football in their team, so I bonded with them, but it was hard at the beginning.”

“My brother Enoch and I had this style since we were young. We liked the idea of Mohican warriors…”

Balotelli’s rapport with coaches has been famously tricky, but he insists most issues were overblown.

“I had a fantastic rapport with everyone, including the Presidents, Massimo Moratti and Silvio Berlusconi. It was disastrous only with one… Brendan Rodgers.

“A fight with Roberto Mancini at Manchester City? I was 19 years old and after a tackle on a teammate he pushed me, saying I could’ve hurt the player. That’s it. That happened on the Friday, on the Sunday I was in the starting XI.

“Jose Mourinho liked to put on a show, but he cared for me. He actually enjoyed riling me up because he thought I’d give more on the pitch if I was annoyed. I will only complain about one thing: he didn’t let me play in the Champions League Final. If I had come on, I would’ve scored. I felt it.”

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