Football Talk - Balotelli can be better than Torres - 23/08/10
Manchester City manager Roberto Mancini has suggested that new signing Mario Balotelli has the potential to be a better player than Fernando Torres.
The two strikers could get an early glimpse of each other when Liverpool travel to the City of Manchester Stadium for tonight's Premier League encounter. New signing Balotelli made an immediate impact for City when he scored the winner on his debut in the club's 1-0 Europa League play-off first leg win over Romanian side Timisoara last week. Mancini believes the Italian can make an even bigger mark on the English game than Torres because of his flexibility.
"I think that Balotelli could be as good as Torres and even better than him,'' Mancini said. "That's because Torres can only play as a striker. Balotelli can play as a striker and as a winger. He has a different attitude from Torres. But what is sure is that we are talking about two fantastic players.''
Balotelli is expected to be fit for the match at Eastlands after injuring himself in the game against Timisoara. "The defenders do not know much about him but they will see he can change everything about a game," continued Mancini. "I saw him four years ago when I was at Inter Milan. He was 16 or 17.
"It was the last five games of the Serie A championship. We had (Zlatan) Ibrahimovic injured and we played Mario inside and he played like someone who was 30 years old. That's because he has good technique, he has everything. Yes, he is a good signing for us.''
