Balotelli Disappears to Milan

And then he was gone.

Like a magician who leaves the stage in a puff of smoke, Mario Balotelli packed his bags and departed Manchester City.

Roberto Mancini finally gave up on the striker he hand-picked to lead his City revolution, his fingers burnt following the 22-year-old’s training ground fracases, late night cavorting and threatened employment tribunal.

And that’s before his on-pitch indiscretions and blatant lack of form.

Balotelli was never the magician his compatriot manager envisaged he would be for City and a return of just three goals in 15 appearances so far this season meant the striker had become more scourge than sorcerer. The unpredictable Balotelli was embarrassing a club that seeks a place in football’s aristocracy. He was the prince that would not behave.

He’ll head back to the familiar surroundings of Milan, but this time in red and black, and join fellow City rebel Robinho at the Rosseneri as they hope to overhaul neighbours Inter into a Champions League spot.  

If Carlos Tevez was City’s marquee signing (literally), Balotelli will go down as a symbol of excess since City's new-found oleaginous wealth.

His record of 20 league strikes in 53 appearances has merit but it's not his goals nor the his role in the massacre of  Manchester United last season.  

Instead it’s bulbous headwear, bibs and Bentleys that will be etched into his Premier League epitaph.

But English football will miss Mario.

Trawl through Twitter on any match day and you see vitriolic bile flung in all directions. Football has become so serious to some fans it seems we’ve forgotten the best, most intrinsic part: fun.

On and off-pitch racism, crippling ticket prices and the Hillsborough inquiry have rightly dominated front and back pages this season leaving it to Mario the maverick to reminded us of football’s futility. Tales of generosity at the petrol forecourt, an apparent interest in the UK justice system and of course the fabled blowing up of his own bathroom brought a smirk to fans' faces if not his manager's and peers'. 

Of course he was indulged by City's hierarchy. But lets not begrudge the man his grotesque fortune for without it he would not have given us his marvelous expenditure. Afterall, why have an iron when you could equally have quad bikes?

The flip side is that Balotelli was no angel. Just ask Scott Parker’s head or Alex Song’s leg. Ask even his City teammates, at whom he snapped into. Balotelli’s farcical episodes were tempered by an inveterate anger and propensity to explode.

Mancini’s decision to offload his protégé was tinged with a morsel of regret (a penny for his thoughts stood on the touchline at Loftus Road on Tuesday), especially as he believes Balotelli can still become a world beater, that he can still pull a rabbit out of his hat.

Derby Fails To Pack Punch

A rivalry year’s in the making. A relationship that was formerly amicable but now soured and intensified. A supposed underdog living in the shadow of a champion. Whether Audley Harrison can cause one of boxing’s great upsets and defeat David Haye in Manchester this Saturday remains to be seen but first of all there was the small matter of one of the most eagerly awaited Manchester derbies.

But if Haye-Harrison put on a ‘show’ like this one, people, spend your £15 elsewhere. Fireworks were expected but other than the garish, red flare waved by fans in the Manchester United end during City’s obligatory rendition of ‘Blue Moon’, the match was sparse of spark or gunpowder.

Manchester City were without Mario Ballotelli, the Italian suspended after being sent off against West Brom the weekend before. Rather than replace the strikier with attacking impetus, Roberto Mancini opted for the three central midfielders of Gareth Barry, Nigel De Jong and Yaya Toure. Adam Johnson’s threat would be limited to only twenty minutes as he was once again named as a substitute. Carlos Tevez, who prior to the match reiterated his contentment at City after switching from United two seasons ago, was the lone striker but David Silva was expected to assist the Argentine.

Sir Alex Ferguson, in his thirty ninth match against the Sky Blues, also named 5 midfielders with Darren Fletcher, Michael Carrick and Paul Scholes, who dramatically headed United a last gasp winner in the same fixture in May, flanked by Park Ji Sung and Nani. Ryan Giggs was deemed unfit still and Wayne Rooney’s conditioning in America meant he was unavailable. Dimitar Berbatov was hoping to end a barren spell 7 league games without scoring.

A first half stymied by a crowded midfield and an inability by both teams to penetrate the opposing final third gave the impression that both teams would settle for a share of the points. That United scored three last minute winners against City last season perhaps suggested that the longer City didn’t score, the more likely United would.

The only chances of the half came to a player from either side. Patrice Evra, who seems to be suffering from quite a throbbing World Cup hangover, played a tidy one-two with Park but the shot that followed went straight into Joe Hart’s arms. Tevez was then awarded a free-kick towards the right of the area. Had the City captain struck it with more of his usual venom then Edwin Van Der Sar may have been beaten. Instead the Dutchman dived high to his left to make a less than troubling save. The half finished with United having had more possession, with Fletcher, Scholes and Carrick all retaining the ball confidently if not probingly.

A second half that lacked the guile of even the preceding one was made more interesting as United started to push higher up the field. If City were to score it needed to be when capatalising on the high full backs of Wes Brown , who had replaced Rafael, and John O’Shea, who came on for an injured Evra. They didn’t, and as a result even the introduction of Johnson, on for an ineffective and out of position James Milner, couldn’t supply Tevez with any opportunities.

An decent overhead kick by Berbatov could not find a way past Hart in goal and although they looked more likely to break the deadlock United failed in their quest to claim belated bragging rights. An echo of boo’s rang around Eastland’s, City fans only too aware that scoreless draws, especially at home, will not get them a coveted Champions League place. It might, however, give them a new manager.

There were cautious jabs, quick feet and ducks and dives but the knockout match that many expected may come Saturday night after all.

Rooney contemplates United exit

Wayne Rooney has reportedly shunned contract negotiations with Manchester United and privately admitted his willingness to cross the Mancunian border and join the blue revolution following a monumental breakdown in relations with Sir Alex Ferguson.

United must now gauge Rooney’s market value and decide whether to sell him during the winter transfer window or wait until the summer when the strikers value may have dwindled. Conversely Ferguson may seek to repair the acrimony that has festered in recent weeks since Rooney’s private life became tabloid fodder.

The damage though is allegedly irreparable and unlike previous falling’s out involving United icons, it is the player who might have the final say and not Ferguson.

Things are said to have soured between the two in the wake of reports in national newspapers of Rooney’s affair with the prostitute Jennifer Thompson. Ferguson reportedly blamed his striker for bringing his club into disrepute before omitting him from the side that travelled to Everton, on the grounds of the “vile” abuse Rooney would receive, and Valencia due to a persistent ankle injury suffered last season in Munich.

Or so Ferguson said. What has transpired since is that Rooney may have been left out of the squad, like he was left out of the starting XI on Saturday, as punishment for his off-pitch behaviour and his blatant contradiction of Ferguson’s assertion that he was injured during an interview.

This, coupled with United’s staggeringly sluggish and, according to Rooney’s camp, underwhelming contract talks has created the perfect storm over Old Trafford.

The odds on Rooney leaving in January have been slashed to 2/1 but the suitors are limited to new football money with Manchester City and Chelsea potential buyers. The thought of Rooney, for most fans the quintessential talismanic leader, wearing the blue of City would be unbearable for most of the United faithful. But it would take the most short –sighted to rule it out. Rooney has after all already ditched Everton (“once a blue, always a blue”) for greater riches and success at United. Who says he will not do the same to the Manchester club like Carlos Tevez did last summer. Rooney may even look to Tevez as an example of the adoration and opportunities he would command.

Although Chelsea have become more prudent in more recent seasons a move for Rooney could be viable despite Abramovich’s remuneration and transfer fee ceiling. A potential stumbling block could be Rooney’s apparent reluctance to move away from the north: a factor that may render Real Madrid and Barcelona a undesirable destinations.

Where would this leave United? Ferguson has repeatedly stated his admiration for Rooney and how his desire fuels his own to continue at the helm. As loss such as this would therefore hurt Ferguson and consequently United. Who would the players look to for that decisive moment? Who would fans urge to beat everyone in front of them? The irony may be that Rooney, a player bought to succeed Van Nistelrooy, has no natural heir and this may be another reason why the striker seeks to ply his trade elsewhere, somewhere where the burden is less strenuous.

Indeed it has been rumoured that Rooney is concerned at the lack of quality players brought in and vision of the future at the club. Having won 6 major trophies at United and sitting unbeaten in the current season you must wonder quite what Rooney’s idea of a successful future is.

Scholes Sends City Crashing

Before Saturday's Manchester-derby The Telegraph's Henry Winter said "if you can't write eleven hundred words about this match you don't deserve to be here".

Quite how he was going to send his editor anything near north of a thousand words must have left him sweating in the Mancunian sun: large periods of this game were devoid of much, if any, quality.

Much of the pre-match focus was, quite rightly, on whether City were at once going to extinguish United's hopes of an unprecedented fourth successive title and reassert themselves as favourites for the coveted fourth spot.

For ninety-two minutes it looked as though they would at least prevent their Salford-based rivals from getting anything out of the match.

But you can never write off champions, least of all Manchester United.

With Chelsea travelling to White Hart Lane in the days evening kick off, United knew that only a win could keep the title hopes burning at Old Trafford. Ferguson had already described the match as the most important derby of his career and the atmosphere at Eastland's stood testament to that.

The opening twenty minutes were as frantic as you'd expect from teams with something to play for. Both started brightly, making early attempts to get into the others' penalty area. A couple of early slips from Nemanja Vidic could have proved costly had City's attackers, namely Emmanuel Adebayor, anticipated the ball.

The first effort came from Darren Fletcher, given the nod, as was Darron Gibson and Paul Scholes, over the underperforming Michael Carrick, whose twenty yard drive crept wide. Scholes, United's perennial servant, also drove wide soon after when his high standards demanded better.

City's only chance of the half fell to Carlos Tevez, whose curling free kick was held onto by a diving Edwin Van De Sar. The Argentinian was his usual vivacious self but was quickly hunted down by United when in possession. In fact this was the tale of an uneventful first half, the only chances of which fell to Wayne Rooney and Ryan Giggs, both of whom should have at least tested Shay Given.

An over-crowded midfield ensured that neither side were going to carve out chances and as a result City nor United took charge of the game.

The tide changed, ironically, when United swapped the half-fit, inefficient Rooney for United fans' favourite scapegoat Dimitar Berbatov. The striker's flaws have been well publicised but he offers the United forward line something different, if not entirely successful.

His peculiar strength on the ball means he is able to slalom past players, dragging some out of position and when he was introduced with twenty minutes remaining United started to look threatening.

City were now playing for the draw, hopeful they could catch United out on the counter attack and it almost paid dividends. Craig Bellamy shot wide when he should have squared the ball to Carlos Tevez, Patrick Viera could have capitalised on Van Der Sar's fumbled catch and Gareth Barry bizarrely opted to look for a penalty rather than shoot.

Inevitably the decisive blow came in injury time, a weapon that United have used to defeat City twice already this season. Referee Martin Atkinson, who controversially awarded 7 minutes of stoppage time in the reverse fixture in September, indicated 3 minutes were to be added to the full ninety.

As Patrice Evra picked the ball up high in the City half he picked out a wandering Paul Scholes on the penalty spot who planted an unchallenged header low into the bottom right corner. Quite how Scholes, who had dominated the games play, managed to allude City's defenders and tracking midfield revealed a lack of concentration that renders City as outsiders for a Champions League spot.

In one of the defining derbies it was Ferguson who had again silenced his 'noisy neighbours' but it was one of the golden generation who would be writing the headlines.