Mario Balotelli: I’d have to kill Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo to win the Ballon d’Or

Nice striker Mario Balotelli has joked that he would need to “kill” the world’s top two players if he were to win the Ballon d’Or.

Balotelli was widely regarded as among the game’s most exciting young talents while breaking into the Inter Milan side a decade ago, and carried an ambition to eventually be crowned as the best footballer in the world.

Though he has since won four domestic titles, the Italy international has seen his career stall at Manchester City, AC Milan and Liverpool.

A productive season at Nice, though, saw him score a team-high 15 goals in 23 games en route to an impressive third-placed finish in Ligue 1.

With Balotelli now set to consider his future, he still harbours faint hopes of lifting the Ballon d’Or at some point – though admits Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo present two huge obstacles.

The pair have shared football’s biggest individual award since 2008, taking La Liga and the Champions League by storm with their sensational goalscoring displays.

Nice’s No.9 said, as reported by ESPN FC: “I would have to kill them off first. If I think back on what I have achieved, it isn’t much. I can do much more.”

On his summer transfer status, Balotelli added: “Now I’m going to pull the plug out for two weeks. Then I will evaluate everything. One day I would like to end my career in my home city [of Brescia], but I’m still young.”