Balotelli ready to fulfil dying father’s wish
AFP, MILAN: Liverpool misfit Mario Balotelli claims he has left his childish ways behind and is ready to knuckle down at AC Milan as he bids to fulfil his dying father’s wish of playing for Italy again. Balotelli’s return to the Rossoneri on a one-season loan deal has been met with derision in Italy, with pundits and most fans opposed to the striker’s return to the club he left only a year ago.
Balotelli spectacularly underperformed at Anfield, instead embellishing his reputation as a “liability” — the view of former Reds legend Graeme Souness, among others. Against his own expectations, the 25-year-old has been given a second chance by Milan. But he knows it could be his last with a top club.
Coach Sinisa Mihajlovic and Milan have instigated a special code of conduct for Balotelli, a player who in the past has riled fans and clubs with his off-field antics, outrageous hairstyles and outings to nightclubs where he has enjoyed the odd cigarette.

Kazakh fans revel in historic Champions League success
AFP, ASTANA (KAZAKHSTAN): Bars spilled joyous supporters into the streets of oil-rich Kazakhstan’s capital Astana early on Thursday after the Central Asian country’s leading football club became its first to make the Champions League group stages. FC Astana overcame the more fancied Apoel Nicosia in a dramatic game in the Cypriot capital on Wednesday night to make their mark on the history of club football’s most prestigious tournament, which is regularly dominated by the likes of Spain’s Real Madrid and Barcelona.
“It is difficult to describe how important last night’s match was to the development of football and sport as a whole in Kazakhstan,” Darhan Kaletaev, chairman of Astana’s board of trustees told AFP by telephone on Thursday. “This victory was achieved thanks to the hard work of the coaching staff, the football-loving people of Astana, and the support of the President of Kazakhstan, Nursultan Nazarbayev.”