Mario Balotelli shows Liverpool what they are missing with stunning

The game appeared over as a meaningful contest in first-half injury time as Colombian centre-back Zapata headed home a Bonaventura corner. He’s not as quick as he was in his prime, but he overcomes his lack of athleticism with his excellent technique and could create some real problems for Milan’s defense if he attacked on the right side of the field.

There was no denying Milan in the closing seconds of the first half, though.

“I’m very demanding with myself and my players”.

Asked if he thought Balotelli had changed, Mihajlovic added: “I don’t know what he was like before, I knew him when he was a 17 year old at Inter and now he’s 25”.

Admittedly, it is crucial not to get too carried away given that this is only the start, but the level of maturity and commitment that Balotelli has shown so far this season is undoubtedly reassuring moving forward.

Mario Balotelli, sporting a new hair cut, won a risky free kick inside four minutes when Mattia De Sciglio fed him inside after great work on the left flank. Riccardo Montolivo spotted Bonaventura’s clever run behind the Udinese defence and the latter chested down the midfielder’s superb pass before slotting home from inside the area. Also, Duvàn is one of the most efficient strikers in the league, thanks to his absurd 0.75 goals per 90 minutes rate.

Silvio Berlusconi has no regrets that Milan signed Mario Balotelli instead of Zlatan Ibrahimovic in the offseason.

Cristian Zapata rose highest at the back stick and nodded it across goal into the far corner to the dismay of the Udine boys, who must have been feeling like the night couldn’t get any worse.

Including his first spell with Milan, Balotelli has scored 18 of his 27 goals with the Rossoneri from dead ball opportunities. In our past two matches we have tried to adopt that approach and I think it went reasonably well.