Manchester City manager Roberto Mancini has urged Mario Balotelli to stop smoking and insisted that he would “give him a kick up the a***” if he were his father.
The Italian boss confessed to being aware of Balotelli’s habit, saying that he smokes around “five or six” cigarettes a day.
Although Mancini is keen for his striker to kick the habit, he admits that he is not in a position to force him to stop.
When told of the Italian’s habit, Mancini replied: “Yeah, yeah, I know this, I know he smokes.
“It’s not okay but I’m not his father or his mother. If he were my son I would give him a kick up the a*** but he’s not.
“I told him it’s better you don’t smoke. I’m against cigarettes, always. For this reason my son doesn’t smoke.
“But I don’t think he smokes a lot – maybe five or six a day. But I told him [he should stop].”
City currently sit top of the Premier League ahead of local rivals United on goal difference.
Despite his side’s comprehensive 6-1 victory over United in October, Mancini is aware of the threat that their rivals will pose in the title race.
“If we want to win this title we will try to win every game because United are very strong,” said the former Inter coach.
“They are used to being at the top for a long time. But I don’t think for us it makes any difference whether we are on the top or behind by one point.
“In the end it could be United are better than us, but we will be okay if we focus on the next 20 games and think positively in difficult moments.
“In every championship every team has a difficult moment. United have had only one, which was against us. But there will be difficult moments again for United, us and Tottenham.”
United’s injury woes have been well-documented, and Mancini confessed that his side cannot afford to have similar problems.
He continued: “United have four or five important players injured. If we were to get that problem it will be a big problem.
“Probably they are better than us, but we want to win this title and we will do everything to win it.”