Nice striker Mario Balotelli appears to have sent another cryptic message to Napoli with a post on his Instagram page.
The Italian, 28, has been at French side Nice since 2016 and has had a very successful spell with the club, scoring 43 goals in 68 games to date.
However, Balotelli’s only Champions League appearances for the club came in last season’s qualifiers, where Napoli beat Les Aiglons 4-0 on aggregate and banished them to the Europa League.
And, despite his controversial past, the former Manchester City striker still harbours ambitions of playing Europe’s elite competition once again.
His latest signal has come in the form of a video, which he posted via his official Instagram account, of the San Paolo stadium, taken from the outside, during the Champions League anthem with the roar of the Napoli faithful at the end.
The 36-time Italy international captioned the video: “I wish I could experience such emotions.”
Why always me? Mario Balotelli’s career so far
ON THIS DAY: In 2011, Man City beat Man United 6-1 at Old Trafford.
"Why always me?" 🤔 pic.twitter.com/kRDL0QPWk0
— Squawka Football (@Squawka) October 23, 2016
Balotelli began his career at Lumezzane, making his debut in a Serie C1 league match against Padova on 2 April 2006, aged just 15.
The forward only played one more game for the club before joining Inter Milan in 2007, after a failed trial with Barcelona, where his career really started to take shape, scoring 28 goals in 86 games for the club, helping them win three Serie A titles and the 2010 Champions League.
However, in what was to be a precursor to the rest of his career, Balotelli was never far from controversy and, following incidents such as being spotted in an AC Milan shirt and a falling out with club legend Javier Zanetti, he left the club in 2010 to join Manchester City.
His time at the Etihad was no less controversial – the ‘why always me?’ incident against Manchester United was arguably the mildest of his notable moments in sky blue – but Balotelli did provide the assist to striker Sergio Agüero, who scored a 94th-minute winner in that game against QPR in 2012 to give City their first league title since 1968.
After scoring 30 goals in 80 games in Manchester, Balotelli made the contentious move back to Italy to join AC Milan in 2013, with whom he enjoyed one of his most prolific spells, scoring 30 goals in 54 games for the Rossoneri.
Mario Balotelli in Ligue 1 for Nice:
20 starts
15 goals ⚽
5 yellow cards ⚠️
3 red cardsAlways entertaining.
pic.twitter.com/4zGB5bnar0
— Squawka Football (@Squawka) June 6, 2017
A shock move to Liverpool, where Balotelli tried and failed to replace Luis Suarez at Anfield, followed with the Italian only managing one league goal for the club before being loaned back to AC Milan for the 2015/16 season, though his form didn’t improve and he moved to French Ligue 1 side Nice on a free transfer in 2016, where he has 43 goals in 68 games to date.
At international level, the Palermo-born forward has scored 14 goals in 36 caps for Italy and was named in the Euro 2012 team of the tournament, helping his country to a runner-up finish.
The post Mario Balotelli reveals desperation for Champions League football in Instagram post appeared first on Squawka News.
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