Teenage Italian striker Mario Balotelli has been welcomed back into the Inter Milan first team fold after issuing a public apology on the club’s website.
Balotelli, 19, had been left out of the last five match-day squads following an altercation that has been shrouded in secrecy.
The only definite thing known was that Balotelli, an Italian of Ghanaian origin, had to apologise in order to be welcomed back.
And despite claiming live on television on Tuesday night that he would not say sorry and had nothing to to apologise for, on Thursday he climbed down off his high horse.
“I apologise for the situation that has been created recently. I was the first one to suffer because I love football and I wanted to play,” he said in a statement.
“In the mean time I will wait silently to be able to come back and be useful to the team.”
Up until now everyone connected with Inter Milan and this affair have remained tight-lipped over what exactly went on with the controversial youngster.
But the affair had turned into a mini soap-opera over the last few weeks with Italian journalists lapping up every rumour and haranguing everyone connected with the club to comment.
The only word Mourinho had expressed on the subject was ahead of Wednesday’s 1-0 Champions League victory over CSKA Moscow when he said: “He knows what he has to say.”
Striker Balotelli’s return is a welcome tonic as star Cameroon forward Samuel Eto’o is suspended for Saturday’s match against Bologna.
Balotelli has had a controversial two seasons under Mourinho, falling out with his coach on several occasions and being excluded from first team reckoning already a few times.
He has also been at the centre of a racism storm after being targeted for abuse by Juventus fans earlier in this campaign.
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