FLORENCE, Italy — If Mario Balotelli behaved more like a team player and less like "a prima donna," he might not have been excluded from Italy’s squad.
That was the message that defender Leonardo Bonucci conveyed Wednesday at the Azzurri’s training camp for the European Championship.
Bonucci says, "It’s always all been in Mario’s hands. He needed to be intelligent enough to change and he still hasn’t done so. He would have been a key member of this national team if he had understood that. And if he had understood that we need armoured tanks who sacrifice themselves for their teammates rather than prima donnas, he would be one of the best strikers in the world."
Balotelli hasn’t played for Italy since the Azzurri’s first-round elimination from the 2014 World Cup.