• Premier League

Balotelli insists he is not violent as Mancini rages

ESPN staff
January 26, 2012
Mario Balotelli maintains his incident with Scott Parker was not deliberate © PA Photos
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Mario Balotelli has insisted he is not a "violent player" after the Manchester City striker was handed a four-match ban for a stamp on Tottenham midfielder Scott Parker.

Balotelli's suspension was confirmed on Wednesday, after the club decided not to appeal against an FA Cup charge for violent conduct following Sunday's match. Balotelli has maintained he never intended to cause Parker harm, but revealed the decision was made not to appeal as the club decided they could not prove his innocence.

"I am not a villain or a violent player," Balotelli told The Independent. "I have accepted the ban because I couldn't prove my innocence. I didn't try to [put my] heel [on] Parker."

Balotelli sat out the first game of his suspension against Liverpool on Wednesday, as City were knocked out of the Carling Cup in the second leg of the semi-final at Anfield. Manager Roberto Mancini was irate in the aftermath, claiming City had again suffered an unfair decision at the hands of the FA.

"I hope tomorrow they can change tonight's result because they decided about Mario after the game," said Mancini. "The referee [Howard Webb] was there, 10 metres from the tackle. He could have sent Mario off at that moment, not after the game because he watched the video.

"That is easy. I can be a referee in the next game. He [Webb] can't say he didn't see it. He saw everything.

"Now it is finished and Mario can do nothing. We lost Vinny [Vincent Kompany] for four games for nothing and now we are without Mario."

© ESPN Sports Media Ltd.
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