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Could Balotelli Have Won 'Three Ballon d’Ors' If He’d Stayed at Milan?

Originally posted on The Cult of Calcio
By Matteo Carnevale  |  Last updated 2/26/24

Love him or hate him, it’s hard to keep Mario Balotelli down.

He hasn’t always been the most universally-adored of players amongst his teammates, but one former colleague that definitely has Balotelli’s back is Kevin Prince-Boateng.

The Ghanaian played alongside Super Mario at Milan, and he believes Balotelli could have gone on to become one of the best players on the planet.

Prince Charming

There has been such a rich heritage of Ghanaians in Serie A, from Sulley Muntari and Kwadwo Asamoah to Stephen Appiah and Asamoah Gyan.

That explains why the Italian top flight is one of the most watched international leagues in Ghana, and why it’s also one of the most popular competitions for bettors to wager on too. They can use a wide range of payment methods, including Visa, Mastercard and Bitcoin, to fund their accounts, and if they can’t wait for the next round of Serie A games then they can also wager on 1xBet virtuals, a sort of digital take on the beautiful game.

And if Balotelli was still playing in Serie A to this day, there’s only one player that Ghana’s favourite footballing son would be watching.

Indeed, Boateng is so convinced of Balotelli’s talent that he’s claimed that his former Milan teammate “could have won three Ballon d’Ors” had he fulfilled his potential with the Rossoneri.

The Ghanaian won the Serie A title with Milan in 2010/11, and while he didn’t get to share the joy of that with Balotelli, the striker was named in the Serie A team of the year while linking up with Boateng in 2012/13.

Having scored goals at Euro 2012 and World Cup 2014 for Italy, the football world was truly Balotelli’s oyster. But a chaotic lifestyle – and combustible personality – combined to prevent him from reaching the very top of his game.

Taking His Shot

If that last paragraph read like something of a eulogy to Balotelli’s career, well the man himself isn’t having a bit of it – he still believes he can lead the line for Italy at Euro 2024.

Despite not having pulled on the blue shirt of the Azzurri in more than five years, Balotelli has not given up on a recall and believes he’s the “strongest” forward at Luciano Spalletti’s disposal.

After Italy’s turgid 0-0 draw with Ukraine in November, the 33-year-old hit out at the strike partnership of Giacomo Raspadori and Gianluca Scamacca. “How many shots did they take combined? Two?” he asked rhetorically, before confirming his intention to return to the international fold.

Balotelli, who admits he has “no relationship” with Spalletti, is still recovering from the knee surgery that has meant he’s missed the last three months of Turkish Super Lig action.

He made his comeback against Alanyaspor on February 18, playing more than an hour in the 3-3 thriller, and so he appears to be closing in on full fitness.

Could Balotelli yet score the goals that nets him the unlikeliest of international recalls this summer?

The post Could Balotelli Have Won “Three Ballon d’Ors” If He’d Stayed at Milan? appeared first on The Cult of Calcio.

This article first appeared on The Cult of Calcio and was syndicated with permission.

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