POLAND: FOOTBALL / SOCCER: Italy coach Cesare Prandelli says Mario Balotelli has the potential to be a true champion

Record ID: 376730

  • Title: POLAND: FOOTBALL / SOCCER: Italy coach Cesare Prandelli says Mario Balotelli has the potential to be a true champion
  • Date: 20th June 2012
  • Summary: KRAKOW, POLAND (JUNE 19, 2012) (REUTERS) ITALIAN COACH CESARE PRANDELLI ARRIVING FOR NEWS CONFERENCE PRANDELLI AT NEWS CONFERENCE (SOUNDBITE) (Italian) ITALIAN COACH CESARE PRANDELLI SAYING: "In that moment I was happy for him because it took courage to put him on the pitch, but it was a calculated courage, because we knew we could squeeze all his potential but he must
  • Embargoed: 5th July 2012 13:00
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  • Location: Poland
  • Country: Poland
  • Topics: Sports
  • Reuters ID: LVA8CHH6MHX3T8TI4Q3Y1MG39ZXB
  • Story Text: Italy's unpredictable Mario Balotelli causes controversy even when he is silenced but coach Cesare Prandelli believes he can become a "champion" if his litany of immaturities are ironed out.
    The 21-year-old striker came on as a substitute and hooked in a superb late goal in the 2-0 win over Ireland on Monday which sent Italy into the Euro 2012 quarter-finals.
    His low-key celebration was typical of his temperamental style, however, and the way Balotelli reacts after scoring his first goal of the tournament, and only his second in 11 Italy games, could be key to his team's chances of going further.
    Prandelli told a news conference on Tuesday that he would ask the Manchester City forward if his muffled outburst was aimed at the coach who dropped him in favour of Antonio Di Natale.
    "He has to make a leap of quality and he can be a true champion. He has to accept criticism and the bench," Prandelli said.
    "The day he realises that no one is trying to hurt him and we all want him to do well, he will make progress," he added.
    "I had courage to play him but it was calculated courage. If Balotelli wants to grow up he has to get through these situations."
    Finding the net could inspire Balotelli or conspire to make him even less likely to pass to his team mates.
    Italy's quarter-final opponents in Kiev on Sunday, France, England or Ukraine, will be hoping he is in one of his destructive rather than destructively brilliant moods.
    Prandelli said Balotelli must recognise that he is not playing on his own and has a whole team around him to help, with the group mentality among the Azzurri clearly visible at fulltime against the already eliminated Irish.
    They were overjoyed when they heard Vicente del Bosque's Spain had beaten Croatia 1-0 in the other match, where a 2-2 draw would have sent Italy out and had led Italian media to become obsessed with fears of a possible fix which they call a 'biscuit'.
    Italy defender Giorgio Chiellini is a major doubt for the quarter-final and perhaps even the rest of the tournament after suffering a thigh problem.
    "The first results are not good," Italy coach Cesare Prandelli told a news conference on Tuesday when asked if Chiellini could miss the rest of the competition.
    "I don't know, we will see."
    Chiellini suffered the injury in Monday's 2-0 Group C win over Ireland and was replaced by fellow centre back Leonardo Bonucci.
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