Mario Balotelli says he is looking forward to first Anfield appearance for Liverpool...but he'll have to wait 10 days
Striker has painful memories at the ground he will hope to erase
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Your support makes all the difference.Mario Balotelli today told the world he cannot wait for his first Liverpool match at Anfield, hopefully it will go smoother than his previous appearances at the ground.
But does the striker not know it's international week?
Judging by his message on his Instagram account today and the fact that he is not in Italy's current squad for their matches against Netherlands and Norway, possibly not...
He wrote alongside a caption of him in Liverpool gear: "Looking forward to my first game in ANFIELD".
He'll have to wait another 10 days before he is unleashed at the Reds' famous home - when Liverpool take on the unbeaten Aston Villa in next Saturday's evening kick-off.
But Anfield has been far from a happy hunting ground for Balotelli in the past.
In his first match at the ground, Manchester City's 3-0 defeat in April 2011, he was so poor he substituted despite having earlier come on as substitute himself.
Then in his next Anfield appearance, his was sent off in the 83rd minutes after picking up two yellow cards in a 1-1 draw in November 2011
And in his last game at Anfield for City, in a 2-2 draw in August 2012, he lasted 62 minutes before being replaced by Edin Dzeko.
Balotelli had said when he joined that the opposing Liverpool fans "weren't nice with him" when he played against them.
"Whenever I played against Liverpool, the fans weren't nice with me but that's normal - it's football!" he said.
"Now that I play for Liverpool, I can see the expectation in people. They're very happy and that makes me very happy at the same time."
By the looks of this Facebook video that Balotelli uploaded today, their relationship is well and truly back on.
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