EXCLUSIVE: Pizzagate II - Mystery of Mario as sick striker eats out despite warnings
By IAN LADYMANhttp://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/football/article-2065400/Mario-Balotelli-Pizzagate-II-Striker-ignores-Manchester-City-warnings.htmManchester City's ongoing struggle to contain Mario Balotelli and his headstrong impulses has been underlined by news that he left the team hotel in Naples to meet his girlfriend despite being advised not to by Roberto Mancini's coaching staff.
The striker caused something of a stir late on Monday when he left City's base the night before they were due to play Napoli in the Champions League to visit a pizza restaurant with his partner Raffaella Fico.
That began to look even more peculiar when Mancini later suggested he had been ill that day with a 'fever'.
Balotelli went on to score a goal in City's 2-1 defeat in Stadio San Paolo but was also seen vomiting on the pitch at half-time.
The 21-year-old - who was given permission to stay in Italy after the game while his team-mates flew home - told the local media he 'had been sick for two days'. However, the real picture of Balotelli's 30 hours back in his home country emerged.
Informed City sources revealed that Balotelli did not have any noticeable illness to speak of when the team arrived on Monday and that he left the hotel at around 9pm having been told it was a bad idea.
It is understood that Mancini has a relaxed attitude to his players leaving the team base on foreign trips, as long as they are sensible and obey usual curfews. As such, Balotelli was not in breach of any instructions from the City manager. Nor was he in receipt of any preferential treatment.
However, it is thought that Mancini may not have known about Balotelli's excursion and that the former Inter Milan player was told by one member of the manager's coaching staff that a walk round a town where he has such a high profile the night before such a big game was not a great thing to do. He then went out anyway.
This came on the back of an incident on the team plane earlier that day in which Balotelli ranted at a member of the club's PR staff after being informed that he would not be the player chosen to speak at the pre-match press conference. It paints a picture of a footballer who had designs on being centre of attention on his return to Italy.
As regards to his supposed 'fever', it is thought that Balotelli may have had a slight cold and that Mancini's attempts to explain that were lost in translation in the press conference that followed Tuesday night's defeat.
Many were left wondering why Balotelli was picked ahead of Sergio Aguero for the game but Mancini simply wished to use the forward's pace down the left with a view to opening up space for full back Aleksandar Kolarov to exploit on the overlap.
Mancini's view is that Balotelli had a decent enough night, scoring a goal late in the first half and coming close with two other efforts in the second period.
City are getting used to the idea that their immediate future may be in the Europa League as Tuesday's defeat means Napoli will finish second in Champions League Group A if they beat Villarreal in their final game of the section a week on Wednesday. City play group winners Bayern Munich at home that night.
Besides Mancini's disappointment, a demotion to the Europa League would also have financial implications for City as they look to maximise revenues ahead of the implementation of UEFA's fair play rules.
City could lose out on £15million in TV cash, prize money and gate revenues if they swap the Champions League for the Europa League and that may impact on Mancini's transfer budget this January and indeed next summer.
One man who will not be losing any sleep over this is flamboyant Napoli president Aurelio De Laurentiis. He said: 'If (City owner) Mr Mansour would like to invest in Napoli he should invest as little as I did and maybe get your team to improve and grow and to manage the situation.
'If Mansour doesn't win straight away with City he will go somewhere else and buy another toy.'
