Materazzi recalls beating Mario Balotelli: ‘He deserved it’

13 years ago, Mario Balotelli was one of the most promising players in the world. At the age of under 20, he was part of a historic Inter Milan team crowned Champions League champions in 2010. , in a great campaign led by José Mourinho. However, the one born in Palermo was also known for his peculiar character and his follies, which posed more than one problem for him in the future. During his stay in the Lombard team, he shared a locker room with Marco Materazzi, another with a very strong personality.

The defender, world champion in Italy 2006 during a memorable final during which he insulted Zidane and had him expelled, He recalled details of an unusual fight he had with Balotelli precisely in this remembered Champions League that they ended up winning 13 years ago.

“I gave him a good beating, that’s true. I love him, but that day he deserved it,” Materazzi began on Instagram. In the semi-finals of the tournament, Mou’s team eliminated Pep Guardiola’s Barcelona in a dramatic finale. In the first leg, played at the Giuseppe Meazza, Súper Mario retired amid errors, to which the player responded by throwing the club shirt to the ground, in a gesture the fans never forgave again.

But there was more. “Throwing the jersey on the ground after the final whistle wasn’t the worst of all” , depending on the center. Before the fundamental duel, The young and crazy striker made a confession to them: “Before the match, on the bus, he told us, ‘I’m going to play very badly today’. So I promised him I would pay for it if he did it. » .

However, Balotelli did not take into account the old defender’s threat: “When he came off the bench, he attempted a shot from the middle of the field instead of launching a counterattack. “Diego Milito wanted to kill him.” The level of the shooter that day was very poor.

In front of this situation, Materazzi decided to keep his word: “We believed in Mario, he scored a lot of goals and contributed to the victories, but after that I asked Mourinho to put me against Balotelli in training matches” .

There, the central defender, known for the harshness with which he treated rival attackers, made Super Mario pay for his irresponsibility: “After a few seconds, I sent him to the locker room,” he admitted.

Despite this conflict, Marco Materazzi admits that they now have a good friendship with the current striker of Adana Demirspor from Turkey, now 33 years old: “Now we are good friends, almost brothers, but this day – there, he did something he should have done. I did not do it “.