Balotelli: ‘Real Madrid dream, Barcelona regret and why career is not over’

“I have a dream, playing for Real Madrid,” he smiled.

What about the reality?

“I am just looking for a club that will have faith in me. I want to play for another two or three years. Then, after that, I’ll go play with my brother Enock, who is currently with the amateur side Vado. We’ll see. In any case, I promised that I will close out my career playing alongside him.”

Balotelli is training with his own fitness staff and assures he feels “ready” to play, although he pays little attention to the world around him.

“I don’t watch football on TV, don’t keep up to date with it. I am in love with playing football, but too many things are changing. I see these huge, tall players, but nobody dribbles past opponents anymore. Nowadays, if a kid tries a nutmeg, he gets told off.”

Balotelli has career regrets

Looking back over his career, which really began with Inter, he has certain regrets.

“I had a spell at Barcelona, that remained a dream, but then Massimo Moratti offered more to Lumezzane, so I went to Inter instead. It was wonderful in Barcelona, I was with the Dos Santos brothers, Thiago Alcantara, Bojan Krkic. We had freedom to play. They only taught us technique, how to stop the ball, first-time passes, no tactics. It was a joy to step onto the field.”

Balotelli never quite lived up to those early expectations and his attitude was part of that, something he fully acknowledges.

“In general terms, I could’ve put more effort in. The big regret is the Nazionale, I could’ve played more for Italy. If I’d had more chances, I would’ve perhaps got closer to Gigi Riva’s goal tally. Some people didn’t want me to wear the Azzurri jersey. Anyway, that’s water under the bridge now.”

He might not be keeping entirely up to date, but Balotelli has noticed the Ademola Lookman controversy with the Atalanta player trying to force through a transfer to Inter.

“I want to clarify that I really regret that gesture at San Siro when I took the Inter shirt off. This is why I say that, with the mentality I have now, I wouldn’t have done what Lookman did, cancelling Atalanta from his social media entirely. It’s true that there are no one-club players now, but the fans have nothing to do with it. They deserve gratitude and respect. All of them.”