‘Super’ Mario Balotelli has apologised to his team-mates for his behaviour against Napoli, which led to him being sent off and receiving a three-match ban.
The hot-headed Italian international striker was shown a red card for arguing with the referee, after Milan had suffered their first home defeat to Napoli in nearly 30 years last weekend.
The following day he was slapped with a three-match ban, depriving the Rossoneri with their most dangerous goal threat.
Balotelli has now said he is sorry for causing difficulties for his team-mates, but insists that he was provoked into reacting aggressively after an increasingly frustrating 90 minutes against high-flying Napoli.
"I apologise to my team mates, who train hard every day. I also apologise to the referee.
"I reacted the wrong way to provocation. Mario has made a mistake.
"He has been provoked and made a mistake in reacting. If Mario makes a bad mistake, Mario should be punished.
“But against Napoli it was the same old story, the fouls against me didn't count for anything, I was the only one who could do anything wrong."
Perhaps Super Mario was angry because his incredible 100% record from the penalty spot had been brought to a crushing halt by Pepe Reina during the game.
The Spanish goalkeeper was the first shot-stopper in 27 attempts not to be frozen on the spot by Balotelli’s cool-as-ice penalty mojo.
His strong spot-kick save means that Balotelli’s once perfect penalty record now reads: 6/6 at Inter Milan; 9/9 at Manchester City; 4/4 for Italy and 7/8 for AC Milan.
