Will Balotelli and Vieira keep hating each other?

There is no love lost between Mario Balotelli and Patrick Vieira, former teammates at Inter; the peak of their tumultuous relationship was reached in 2018, when an argument erupted that enraged both of them, and they almost came to blows. The coach, in a lengthy interview with the Daily Mail, explained: «His mentality is not suited for a collective sport like football. At Nice, I wanted to build a philosophy based on compactness and work ethic. Working with a player like him was really complicated. The situation had become unmanageable for both parties, which is why we decided to part ways».

Mario Balotelli, on the other hand, in an interview with SoFoot, even stated that one of the reasons he chose to leave Villefranche was Patrick Vieira, who apparently didn’t want the Italian in his squad at all. Super Mario, who had scored 15 goals in Ligue 1 in his first season at Nice and 18 in the second, moved to Marseille, an experience that marked the beginning of a real downfall in terms of performances, increasingly disappointing and not living up to his exceptional talent.

Today, Mario Balotelli, after his experience in Turkey with Adana Demirspor, has returned to Serie A wearing the Genoa jersey. A long-desired return, but achieved in a dramatic – if not even pathetic – way, as we explained in this article, due to the questionable decisions of all the parties involved. Even his first two appearances, against Fiorentina and Como, were not particularly impressive, marked by two yellow cards that at least added to the match statistics. Today, Genoa decided to dismiss coach Alberto Gilardino, handing the reins to Patrick Vieira, who will now have the opportunity to showcase himself in Italy, a country to which he owes a lot for his time at Juventus. The fates of Vieira and Balotelli cross once again, probably in the worst possible context. This demonstrates how the club’s choices – bringing back the 34-year-old striker in a difficult league position and then firing Gilardino to make room for Vieira – are on the verge of absurdity.

Who knows what’s going through Mario Balotelli’s mind right now, as life may have given him a particularly tough test. It could be that Patrick Vieira’s coaching might prove that, at 34, Balotelli has finally completed a maturation process, leaving his turbulent past behind, regardless of the clubs he has played for. The situation is truly a make-or-break: on one hand, an ideal relationship could develop in which Vieira and Balotelli manage to save Genoa, which is currently on the brink of relegation to Serie B; on the other hand, it could turn into a total disaster. In any case, Balotelli will need to find a way to carve out a place in the battle for a starting spot, competing with Vitinha and Pinamonti for the role.