{"id":295925,"date":"2023-11-22T13:24:19","date_gmt":"2023-11-22T13:24:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/sportstoft.com\/?p=295925"},"modified":"2023-11-22T13:24:19","modified_gmt":"2023-11-22T13:24:19","slug":"balotelli-makes-claim-for-italy-recall-five-years-after-his-last-cap","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/sportstoft.com\/soccer\/balotelli-makes-claim-for-italy-recall-five-years-after-his-last-cap\/","title":{"rendered":"Balotelli makes claim for Italy recall &#8211; FIVE YEARS after his last cap"},"content":{"rendered":"<h1>Mario Balotelli claims he should be back in the Italy team at 33 &#8211; FIVE YEARS after earning his last cap &#8211; as he hits out at strikers for not taking enough shots<\/h1>\n<ul>\n<li><strong>Balotelli last played for Italy in a 1-1 Nations League draw against Poland in 2018\u00a0<\/strong><\/li>\n<li><strong>The ex-Man City striker is currently with Turkish top-flight side\u00a0Adana Demirspor<\/strong><\/li>\n<li><strong>IAN LADYMAN: I want to take the audio of this stricken referee into every Premier league training ground this week &#8211; Listen to the horrible story on IAKO<\/strong><\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>Mario Balotelli has hit out at Italy&#8217;s current crop of strikers, insisting he considers himself &#8216;the strongest&#8217; as he bids for an unlikely national team recall ahead of next summer&#8217;s European Championship.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>The 33-year-old has not featured for the Azzurri since their 1-1 Nations League draw with Poland in September 2018.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Since then the former Manchester City striker has had spells with Nice, Marseille, Brescia, Monza, Sion and is currently in his second stint with Turkish top-flight outfit\u00a0Adana Demirspor.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Balotelli famously netted twice in Italy&#8217;s semi-final victory over Germany at Euro 2012, and days after witnessing his country secure qualification to next summer&#8217;s tournament under new coach Luciano Spalletti, he was keen to ensure his name had not been forgotten in selection picture.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>&#8216;If I\u2019m well, I still consider myself the strongest,&#8217; he told\u00a0TvPlay via Calciomercato.com. &#8216;Did [Giacomo] Raspadori and [Gianluca] Scamacca play yesterday? How many shots did they take combined? Two? I want to recover and play for the national team.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter\" src=\"https:\/\/i.dailymail.co.uk\/1s\/2023\/11\/22\/11\/78106101-12779365-image-a-31_1700653168655.jpg\" height=\"423\" width=\"634\"><\/p>\n<p>Former Man City forward Mario Balotelli believes that he is still the best striking option for Italy\u00a0<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter\" src=\"https:\/\/i.dailymail.co.uk\/1s\/2023\/11\/22\/11\/78106351-12779365-image-a-35_1700653529274.jpg\" height=\"390\" width=\"306\"><br \/>\n<img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter\" src=\"https:\/\/i.dailymail.co.uk\/1s\/2023\/11\/22\/11\/78106323-12779365-image-a-36_1700653529275.jpg\" height=\"390\" width=\"306\"><\/p>\n<p>Balotelli hit out at Giacomo Raspadori (left) and Gianluca Scamacca (right) who have seven international goals between them<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter\" src=\"https:\/\/i.dailymail.co.uk\/1s\/2023\/11\/22\/11\/78038547-12779365-Italy_ensured_qualification_to_the_2024_European_Championships_a-a-33_1700653175438.jpg\" height=\"423\" width=\"634\"><\/p>\n<p>Italy secured qualification to the 2024 European Championship after a draw on Monday night<\/p>\n<p>Your browser does not support iframes.<\/p>\n<p><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" class=\"aligncenter\" src=\"https:\/\/i.dailymail.co.uk\/1s\/2023\/11\/22\/11\/78106113-12779365-image-a-32_1700653171738.jpg\" height=\"453\" width=\"634\"><\/p>\n<p>Balotelli was a star man for Italy in their run to the final of the European Championship in 2012<\/p>\n<p>&#8216;I always hope for the call. I met Spalletti and I\u2019ve met him several times. We made some jokes when we met in a friendly with Napoli, but I have no relationship.&#8217;<\/p>\n<p>Italy will have the chance to defend their crown after booking their place at EURO 2024 with a controversial 0-0 draw against Ukraine. Under former Napoli boss\u00a0Spalletti, the side have recorded three wins from six games and have bounced back from the disappointment of failing to reach last year&#8217;s World Cup.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>But despite improvements the side lack quality in attack, with none of their current squad boasting more than eight international goals. Raspadori top scores among the forwards with just six.\u00a0<\/p>\n<p>Balotelli by contrast has 14 to his name from 36 appearances and has begun his second spell in\u00a0Adana positively with three goals from five games.\u00a0<\/p>\n<h3>IT&#8217;S ALL KICKING OFF!\u00a0<\/h3>\n<p><span><span>It&#8217;s All Kicking Off is an exciting new podcast from Mail Sport that promises a different take on Premier League football.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p><span><span>It is available on MailOnline, Mail+, YouTube, Apple Music and Spotify.<\/span><\/span><\/p>\n<p>Your browser does not support iframes.<\/p>\n<p>Source: <a href=\"https:\/\/www.dailymail.co.uk\/sport\/football\/article-12779365\/Mario-Balotelli-Italy-team-33-FIVE-YEARS-cap.html\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">Read Full Article<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<div class=\"mh-excerpt\"><p>Mario Balotelli claims he should be back in the Italy team at 33 &#8211; FIVE YEARS after earning his last cap &#8211; as he hits <a class=\"mh-excerpt-more\" href=\"https:\/\/sportstoft.com\/soccer\/balotelli-makes-claim-for-italy-recall-five-years-after-his-last-cap\/\" title=\"Balotelli makes claim for Italy recall &#8211; FIVE YEARS after his last cap\">[&#8230;]<\/a><\/p>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":295924,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[19],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-295925","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-soccer"],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v24.1 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/wordpress\/plugins\/seo\/ -->\n<title>Balotelli makes claim for Italy recall - FIVE YEARS after his last cap - Sportstoft<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/sportstoft.com\/soccer\/balotelli-makes-claim-for-italy-recall-five-years-after-his-last-cap\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Balotelli makes claim for Italy recall - FIVE YEARS after his last cap - Sportstoft\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Mario Balotelli claims he should be back in the Italy team at 33 &#8211; 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