Sergio Aguero talks fondly of former Manchester City team-mate Mario Balotelli
Manchester City striker Sergio Aguero has revealed that he still misses the presence of former team-mate Mario Balotelli, who left the current Premier League champions for AC Milan in January 2013. Balotelli’s time with the Manchester club was riddled with a plethora of controversies, leading to overwhelming relief at his departure, but Aguero, surprisingly, only has fond memories of the Italian’s two-and-half-year spell at the club.
Speaking about Balotelli in his new book, Born to Rise: My Story, he wrote: “I still miss Mario Balotelli being at City, even though he used to drive us all nuts.
“We all knew Mario was a little crazy. The thing was, Mario was crazy when he wanted to be.
“I couldn’t help but wind him up, calling him silly names and toying with him.
“But he knew it was because I loved Mario – everyone loved him.”
Team-mates unaware of Balotelli’s t-shirt
Talking about Balotelli, famously, wearing the t-shirt inscribed with the words “Why Always Me?” during a Premier League game against Manchester United at Old Trafford in October 2011, Aguero said that nobody in the team was aware of him doing so and added that they would have advised him to take it off if they had known.
“Nobody knew he had that t-shirt on when we played United at Old Trafford – he must have hidden it beneath a vest. If we'd known we'd have told him to take it off,” he said.
“But later when I looked at the ‘Why Always Me?’ message on the front, I told him that if he was calmer and didn’t do so many things, it probably wouldn’t always be him.”
Recalls historic goal against QPR
He also reminisced about his title-winning goal against Queens Park Rangers (QPR) in the dying stages of the 2011-12 season and the little part that Balotelli, who is currently with rivals Liverpool, played in history being achieved.
“Roberto Mancini brought on Edin Dzeko and Mario and when Edin headed us level two minutes into injury time I just wanted one opportunity to fulfill the sense of destiny we’d all felt,” the 26-year old Argentinian said.
“I played the ball to Mario and he managed to nudge back to me.
“This was it, the one chance I’d hoped would come. I hit the ball as hard as I could. I remember seeing the ball hitting the back of the net, hearing a deafening roar and then I went a little crazy.
“The shock didn’t set in until my team-mates dragged me down on to the ground and started telling me they loved me. Mario grabbed me and said, ‘You f***ing idiot! I love you big b****cks!’”