The evening before the trip to the Parc des Princes, “King Mario” spoke at length to Nice-Matin. His vision for the Gym, his relationship with the club, his aura, his career, his personality...: the Italian star, interviewed by William Humberset and Vincent Menichini, spoke for over an hour. A fascinating result, spread over four beautiful pages.

Here’s a selection.

La une de Nice-Matin du jeudi 26 octobre 2017. pic.twitter.com/JnD92W7qPK

— Nice-Matin (@Nice_Matin) 25 octobre 2017

The crisis?

“A crisis, no! (smiling) We lost a few matches… Against Marseille, if we hadn’t conceded the first goal so quickly, I am convinced we would have won. Against Montpellier, Alassane and I had great chances. If I had scored, we wouldn’t have lost. Lazio, if I had scored from the chance when I took it past the keeper but shot wide, we wouldn’t have lost the game. You need a bit of luck at times. If you win against Lazio, that changes everything. If you beat Marseille, that also changes everything. These are the particularities of football, sometimes things don’t click into place as you had imagined.”

EXCLU. Sa saison, sa personnalité, les supporters niçois... Mario Balotelli dit tout à Nice-Matinhttps://t.co/bs9gj5rgqY pic.twitter.com/wCznZhht6Z

— Nice-Matin (@Nice_Matin) 25 octobre 2017

The supporters

“At my previous clubs, a sporting situation like this, would never have been taken so well. Against Strasbourg, even though we played very badly and lost a game we should never lose, the supporters were still behind us, sang and cheered. To have support like that, it’s magnificent.”

His role

“I feel that we often look to me. I have big and great responsibilities amongst my teammates. I realised that when I get annoyed on the pitch, that only brings negative things for the team. Even when I am not having a great day, I force myself to stay calm, to encourage my teammates. I was losing far too much energy in arguing with a defender or moaning when a decision which didn’t go our way. I started to change my behaviour during my last year at Milan.”

Find Mario Balotelli’s full interview in today’s Nice-Matin. 

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