Balotelli says he could have score for Italy in North Macedonia defeat

Mario Balotelli insists he could have helped Italy avoid their humiliating defeat by North Macedonia last week by getting Roberto Mancini's goal-shy team on the scoresheet.

The European champions failed to qualify for a second successive World Cup finals after Aleksandar Trajkovski's stoppage-time winner for North Macedonia in their play-off semi-final in Palermo.

The chastening defeat was part of a run which saw Mancini's men score just once in three games, prior to Tuesday night's 3-2 win against Turkey in a friendly.

But former Manchester City star Balotelli, 31, claims he is only missed 'when we lose' and claims the Azzurri had the opportunities to avoid a shock defeat last week. 

'I'm always missed when we lose,' Balotelli told Sky Sport Italia. 'It's easy to say it now but before the match no one thought about me.

'I watched the match and there were were opportunities. In front of goal I'm pretty good and I'm not saying we would have won if I had been playing but there were opportunities to score.'

Balotelli was called up by Mancini in January for a 35-man special training camp at their Coverciano base, but was ultimately snubbed for last week's World Cup semi-final play-off.

But the Adana Demirspor striker - who remains Italy's last goalscorer at a World Cup after his goal against England in 2014 - insists the bigger picture hurts more than his omission last week.

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