Football: four years later, Mario Balotelli played again in Serie A

Mario Balotelli, surprise recruit from Genoa at the end of October, made his return to Serie A, four years after his last appearance in the Italian championship, Monday in the 1-0 success at Parma.

“Super Mario”, aged 34, started on the bench before coming on in the 86th minute while his team in difficulty in the standings led 1-0 (goal from Pinamonti). The whimsical Italian striker had not played an Italian elite match for 1701 days.

Balotelli, who played for the two Milan clubs (Inter and AC Milan), Manchester City, Liverpool, Nice and Sion among others, spent only eight minutes on the pitch, the time to receive a yellow card for a foul at the entrance to the penalty area.

Without a club since last June and his departure from the Turkish club Adana Demirspor, the native of Palermo, was recruited on October 27 to compensate for the absence due to injuries of two attackers from Genoa, Vitinha and Junior Messias.

Thanks to its success in Parma, Genoa, coached by former Italian international Alberto Gilardino, leaves the red zone and climbs four places to 17th place in the ranking. The Parmesans, who played the entire match with Simon Sohm, are fourteenth.

In the other match played at the end of the afternoon, Empoli, with Nicolas Haas until the 76th minute, won 1-0 against Como. Empoli is 11th, Como 15th.

In the evening, Lazio, contender for qualification in the Champions League next year, kept pace with the leading quartet thanks to their difficult victory (2-1) against the poorly ranked Cagliari, in Rome at the Olympic Stadium.

Thanks to this third consecutive success in Serie A – the 8th in nine matches in all competitions – the Laziale (5th) pick up with 22 points from Atalanta Bergamo (3rd) and Fiorentina (4th), respective winners of leader Naples (3- 0) and Torino (1-0) on Sunday, who are ahead of them only on goal difference.

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