Mario Balotelli assures he is ready to be “a leader” at Brescia and regain his Italy place. “Before Roberto Mancini, it didn’t depend on me.”

The 29-year-old signed a multi-year contract with his hometown club Brescia, who just earned promotion to Serie A.

“I am truly, truly happy,” he grinned on Sky Sport Italia after spells at Nice and Olympique Marseille.

Brescia President Massimo Cellino urged the media to “help” Mario Balotelli, but claimed English football fans were “racist” against Italians.

The patron spoke at a Press conference presenting new star signing Balotelli.

“This was not a publicity stunt, in fact it was also a way of thanking the fans for buying so many season tickets and showing such enthusiasm,” said Cellino.

Mario Balotelli reveals his mother “cried” with happiness when he joined hometown club Brescia. “It was my Father’s dream to see me in this jersey.”

Although the striker was born in Palermo to Ghanaian parents, he moved to Brescia at the age of two and his adoptive family still lives there, although his Father died recently.

This is therefore a return to his hometown club, even though he started out in the youth academies of Lumezzane and then Inter, so never actually played for the Rondinelle.

Mario Balotelli has officially signed "a multi-year contract" for his hometown club Brescia as a free agent following their promotion to Serie A.

“Mario Balotelli Barwuah is officially a new player of Brescia Calcio S.p.A. The Footballer has signed a multi-year contract with the Rondinelle,” read a statement.

Roberto Mancini is expecting big things from Italian players this season but has warned Mario Balotelli to get his act together at Brescia.

Mancini rated members of his Italy squad in the second part of his Gazzetta dello Sport interview, including ‘extraordinary’ Inter pair Stefano Sensi and Nicolo Barella, Federico Bernardeschi – who can become ‘one of the best’ – and ‘potential superstar’ Nicolo Zaniolo.

Roberto Mancini feels Juventus are ‘by far’ the best team in Serie A, Inter need ‘a bit of time’ to catch up with Napoli and that Milan can be ‘surprise packages’.

Mancini gave his Serie A predictions to Gazzetta dello Sport on Sunday, also passing judgment on Atalanta ahead of their Champions League debut and showing his support to Bologna boss Sinisa Mihajlovic as he continues his battle with cancer.

Mario Balotelli signed the contract with Brescia last night, claim reports, but Massimo Cellino won’t announce it due to superstition.

La Gazzetta dello Sport maintain the paperwork was already signed at 23.45 local time on Friday evening.

It was done that late to ensure it did not include the date August 17, which is also why the news won’t be announced today.

Gigi Di Biagio insists he “did not fail” as Italy Under-21 Coach and is looking for a new job, while evaluating Daniele De Rossi and Mario Balotelli moves.

The tactician was at the helm of perhaps the strongest Azzurrini squad in years, but didn’t get beyond the group stage in the European Under-21 Championship this summer.

“That particular tournament was probably a failure, but not the overall work I did over the years in charge of the Under-21 team,” insisted Di Biagio on Sky Sport Italia.

Liverpool beat Chelsea on penalties to win the UEFA Super Cup after a 2-2 draw, which saw Italy international Jorginho on target.

This was an all-English edition of the Super Cup in Istanbul, as Chelsea won the Europa League with Maurizio Sarri, while Liverpool beat Tottenham Hotspur to the Champions League.

Mohamed Salah tested Kepa Arrizabalaga early on and at the other end Pedro Rodriguez struck the crossbar from close range.