Balotelli sees red as City loses 1-0 at Arsenal

Posted Monday, April 09, 2012 by YAHOO Sport

LONDON (AP)—Mario Balotelli was sent off for the second time this season as Manchester City’s faint Premier League title hopes appeared to end with a 1-0 loss at Arsenal that could spell the end of the petulant striker’s career at the club.

Manager Roberto Mancini said he will now “probably” try to sell Balotelli at the end of the season.

“He is losing his talent and his quality,” Mancini said. “He is in a bad way for his future and he needs to change his behavior.”

Balotelli was dismissed in the 90th minute when he was booked again for a lunge on Bacary Sagna, three minutes after Mikel Arteta’s curled in Arsenal’s winner.

Before receiving his fourth red card since joining City in 2010, a dangerous-looking knee-high tackle on Alex Song had gone unpunished after just 10 minutes.

“From the bench I didn’t see the first tackle (on Song) but now I have seen it and Mario deserved a red card after 10 minutes,” Mancini said. “But it took until the last few minutes for him to get sent off. I am very sorry for him. I don’t have any words for his behavior.

“I love him, he is a fantastic player, I love him as a guy but he needs to change or he can lose everything. I am disappointed in him.”

The 21-year-old Balotelli is rarely out of the headlines for his conduct on and off the pitch.

“He is young and he continues to make mistakes,” Mancini said.

City had topped the table for most of the season but Manchester United has seized on its neighbor’s collapse over the last month to surge eight points clear with six games remaining.

Even United’s 2-0 victory over Queens Park Rangers earlier on Sunday provided no incentive for City’s players to attempt to revive the free-flowing, attacking football that was their hallmark earlier in the season.

Instead it was an indisciplined, sloppy display at the Emirates Stadium from a side that has been built with more than $1 billion of Abu Dhabi investment.

“Today we have 15 points more than last year, clearly it is difficult to win the title,” Mancini said. “After that we will see. In the last month we have had problems with injuries but we need to improve more. For 28 or 29 games we did well but there are 18 points to play for. Never say never.”

But Arsenal’s dominance paid off to consolidate third place.

The victory marked the latest step in Arsenal’s resurgence since overhauling Tottenham’s 10-point lead in third to now sit two points clear of its north London rival, which has dropped into the fourth Champions League spot.

“It’s really important for us as there are a few teams putting pressure on us for a place in the Champions League,” Arteta said. “We dropped points last week so this was a massive three points. It was a good goal against a good team who have spent a lot of money.”