September 7, 2018. It has been since then that Mario Balotelli was allowed to wear the azure blue shirt of the Italian national team again.
The enfant terrible then got sidetracked. In Turkey, Balotelli now seems to have recovered. At Adana Demirspor, the 31-year-old striker has already hit 8 times in 19 matches this season.
That is enough to convince national team manager Roberto Mancini to take Balotelli to a stage that will serve as preparation for the play-offs for the World Cup. The internship will take place this week from Wednesday to Friday.
Mancini and Balotelli know each other like no other, because both men worked together in the past at Inter and Manchester City. In addition, they can still use some punch in the front line at Italy.
Italy’s 35-man stage squad also includes 7 players who have never been called up for an international match: goalkeeper Marco Carnesecchi, defenders Luiz Felipe and Giorgio Scalvini, midfielders Nicolo Fagioli, Davide Frattesi and Samuele Ricci and striker João Pedro.
Italy will meet North Macedonia on March 24 in the jump-off matches for the World Cup. The winner of that game will compete 5 days later for a World Cup ticket against the winner of the game between Portugal and Turkey.
