When he retires one day, Jose Mourinho will be remembered as one of the greatest managers in footballing history.
Mourinho first burst onto the scene with FC Porto back in 2004 when he won the Champions League with the Portuguese side, earning him a move to Chelsea.
Of course, ‘The Special One’ then went on to win three Premier League titles at Stamford Bridge before then having spells at various other European giants.
Mourinho first went to Inter Milan after leaving Chelsea, where he won his other Champions League title back in 2010.
Today, Mourinho is in charge of Fenerbahce in Turkey, a 62-year-old who is clearly still itching to add more medals to his collection.
Jose Mourinho lifts the lid on Mario Balotelli at Inter Milan
That being said, in an interview with CNN back in 2015, Mourinho was asked by journalist Pedro Pinto who he considered to be the ‘most problematic’ player he had worked with in his career to date.
Mourinho first replied by saying, “the most problematic were funny”, before then discussing a story about former Inter striker Mario Balotelli.
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Of course, fans in England know all about Balotelli from his time with Manchester City and Liverpool in the Premier League, a one-of-a-kind personality.
And when giving Balotelli as his answer to the question, Mourinho shared an amusing story about his time with the Italian striker at Inter.
Speaking with a smile on his face, Mourinho said: “Mario was good fun. I could write a book of 200 pages of my two years in Inter with Mario. But the book would not be a drama, it would be a comedy.
“I remember one in Kazan. We went to Kazan in the Champions League. In that match all my strikers were injured. No Milito, no Eto’o, I was really in trouble and Mario was the only one.
“Mario gets a yellow card in minute 42, 43. So when I go to the dressing room at half-time, I spend 14 minutes of the 15 speaking only for Mario.
“Mario, I cannot change you. I cannot make a change. I don’t have a striker on the bench.
“Don’t touch anybody. Play only with the ball. When we lose the ball, no reaction. If somebody provokes you, no reaction. If the referee makes a mistake, no reaction. Mario, please.
“Minute 46, red card!”
Mario Balotelli’s goalscoring record across his career
Interestingly, Balotelli has never reached 100 appearances for any of the clubs he’s played for so far in his career.
Balotelli has scored goals wherever he’s gone, but he’s never really settled at one club for too long.
| Games | Goals | |
| Inter Milan | 86 | 28 |
| Man City | 80 | 30 |
| AC Milan | 77 | 33 |
| OGC Nice | 76 | 43 |
| Adana Demirspor | 51 | 26 |
| Liverpool | 28 | 4 |
| Brescia | 19 | 5 |
| FC Sion | 19 | 6 |
| Olympique Marseille | 15 | 8 |
| Genoa | 6 | 0 |
| FC Lumezzane | 2 | 0 |
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In fact, Jamie Carragher knew Balotelli would fail at Liverpool before he even joined the club, a claim the pundit made last year.
Either way, the Italian will always be remembered incredibly fondly by Premier League fans, a striker who is now playing for Genoa at 34-years-old.
Balotelli is yet to score for the Italians in his six appearances, but he still has a chance to put that right before his contract expires in the summer.
