man city again

Cracking up: Balotelli booed by his own fans as he clashes with team-mates after City stumble

City’s fans and his own team-mates yesterday as the club’s title challenge looked to be on the verge of cracking up.

The 21-year-old Italian bad-boy was booed by all four sections of the Etihad Stadium as he tussled with team-mate Aleksandar Kolarov over who should take a free-kick midway through the second-half with City trailing 3-1 to Sunderland.

Falling out: Mario Balotelli clashes with Aleksandar Kolarov

Balotelli grabbed Kolarov and tried to wrestle the ball from him. But he was shoved back by the Serbian and then dragged away by Vincent Kompany and Nigel de Jong.

At the final whistle, the Italian, who was criticised by manager Roberto Mancini despite scoring twice in City’s 3-3 draw, petulantly stormed off the pitch without shaking hands or looking at anyone.

Bad day at the office: Balotelli stormed off after the final whistle

Mancini, who last week admitted he could ‘never trust’ the striker, said: ‘I let Mario and Ale [Kolarov] decide who takes free-kicks in that position. These things can happen but it is the last time.

‘Mario didn’t play well. We need our strikers like him and [Edin] Dzeko to make the difference, not wait until the last few minutes.’

At a loss: City look disconsolate after Nicklas Bendtner put Sunderland 2-1 up just before half-time

The result left Mancini’s team two points behind Premier League leaders Manchester United.

If Sir Alex Ferguson’s men beat Blackburn Rovers on Monday night, the gap will widen to five points – and it could be up to eight by the time City kick off their next game against Arsenal next Sunday evening.

Aggrieved: Roberto Mancini talks to referee Phil Dowd about what he perceived to be a lack of injury-time

 

Balotelli, signed by Mancini for £24million in August 2010, embarrassed and angered City’s manager last week by flying to Milan and hijacking a press conference at his former club Inter.

That was just the latest in a series of escapades that have dogged Balotelli’s career at City and now, it seems, the fans may finally be tiring of his unpredictable antics.

On the spot: Balotelli made no mistake with this penalty

City fought back to draw the game with two goals in the final six minutes, Balotelli scoring one of them to add to his earlier penalty. A mystery foot injury to Sergio Aguero meant Mancini’s strike options were limited and the manager admitted that he might otherwise have substituted Balotelli and strike partner Dzeko early on against Sunderland.

‘We only had Carlos Tevez on the bench,’ said Mancini. ‘But in the end he [Balotelli] scored two goals.’