Totti furious with Balotelli
Roma captain Francesco Totti said he was disgusted when he heard Inter striker Mario Balotelli insult his teammates on Sunday evening.
Roma and Inter drew 3-3 in a bad tempered game that has since stirred up a lot of controversy in Italy.
With the score at 3-1 Balotelli approached the penalty area, rode a tackle and then controversially went down, winning a spot kick, which he later converted.
On scoring, Balotelli insulted several Roma players and then put his finger to his lips in a gesture to silence the crowd.
“If I at 19 were to have had the same attitude as Balotelli, my teammates back then, Giovanni Cervone and Giuseppe Giannini would have kicked me down,” Totti raged.
“My Coach Carlo Mazzone would have given me a couple of slaps and I would have had to go home and tell my parents what I had done.”
Totti refused to be drawn on the referee, who awarded Balotelli the penalty. Instead, he said the problem lies with the player.
“There are and always will be refereeing mistakes,” he explained. “But you can't tolerate a player like Balotelli.
“He has great technical, physical and athletic qualities and shouldn't have to behave so badly in front of his teammates, opponents and fans.”
Totti revealed that it is not the first time his team has been insulted by the 18-year-old, who apparently swore at them during the Italian Super Cup Final.
“In the Super Cup Final just as I was about to take a corner kick, I heard him insult me,” Totti explained.
“You can understand a moment of anger, but insults like this should not be repeated. Instead, they are punctually repeated every Sunday.”
Totti then told Balotelli to learn from the examples set by Marco Materazzi and Gennaro Gattuso, who control their anger.
“If one day he meets great men like Materazzi and Gattuso on international duty, he could learn a lot of things from them like how to behave.”
Balotelli is expected to receive a suspension today along with Jose Mourinho and Daniele De Rossi when they appear in front of the Italian Football Federation.