Mario Balotelli says he knows what he has to do in order to beat Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo to the Ballon d’Or – and it isn’t just a case of getting better on the pitch.
Nice forward Balotelli, 26, has ambitions of winning the trophy awarded each year to the world’s best player at some point in his career.
However Messi and Ronaldo have had a duopoly over it in recent seasons, and Balotelli jokes that he would need to ‘kill’ both star players to have a chance of earning his own award.
‘I’ll have to kill those two to win it,’ he told Bresciaoggi. ‘What I’ve done since the start of my career has not been enough, I will have to do more.’
Messi and Ronaldo have shared the honour between them for nearly a decade – one or the other has won the Ballon d’Or for each of the last nine seasons.
During that time Balotelli has had a mixed career, with controversial stints at both AC and Inter Milan, along with Manchester City and Liverpool.
He joined Ligue 1 club Nice last summer, and has enjoyed his most productive year in a while, helping the French side finish third and qualify for the Champions League.
He scored 15 goals in 23 games, but is yet to extend his contract at Nice which expires in the summer, so could be on the move again.
