Manchester City striker Mario Balotelli had claimed that he would end his wild ways if was given the chance to meet Brazilian legend Ronaldo.

Balotelli, 20, has attracted criticism for his behaviour since joining City in the summer and has been left out of Italy’s Euro 2012 squad for the matches against Slovenia and Ukraine due to his sending off for his club against Dynamo Kiev.

However, the former Inter Milan star has maintained that he would change his ways if he could talk to his idol face-to-face.

“Introduce me to Ronaldo and I swear I’ll behave to the end of my playing career,” he toldLe Iene. “I never met him, so you know when you see the idol of a lifetime it can change your way of thinking? There are many great players, but Ronaldo was the greatest and so one word from him is worth a thousand from the others.”

Balotelli also jumped to his own defence, claiming that his behaviour has improved and that fans would soon start to see the full range of his talent.

“I already behave myself fairly well, but I’ll try to stop doing those stupid little things,” he added. ”It happens. You’ll soon see the real Mario on the field!”

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Former Liverpool boss Rafael Benitez admits ”it would be a dream” to manage the club again in the future, having been replaced by Roy Hodgson last summer.

Benitez, who lasted just six months before being sacked by new club Inter Milan, admits Kenny Dalglish is currently doing an impressive job in his role as caretaker boss until the end of the season, after the Reds parted company with Hodgson following a dreadful start to the season.

Despite Dalglish’s success, Benitez concedes he would jump at the chance to resume his love affair with the Kop.

”I am really proud of being the manager of Liverpool Football Club and I would like to come back in the future,” Benitez told Sky Sports News. ”You never know (when) because Kenny is doing a really good job. It’s a question of time. You never know in the future.

”It would be a dream. I would be really pleased to come back in the future.”

Benitez revealed he would consider other offers in England but would never contemplate managing Liverpool’s rivals Everton and Manchester United.

”Fans in Liverpool know the teams I would not go (to) but I think these clubs wouldn’t offer me a job,” he said. ”I’m a professional but obviously some clubs I would not go to, especially the big rivals of Liverpool. I won’t say the names, but it’s not difficult!”

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Tottenham winger Gareth Bale has been ruled out of Wales’ Euro 2012 qualifier against England on Saturday with a hamstring injury.

Bale did not train on Wednesday, despite reports that he was injured during a session, and he has only recently returned from a back injury that kept him out for six weeks from the end of January until early March.

A statement from the Welsh FA on Thursday read: ”Due to a hamstring problem, Gareth Bale has had to withdraw from the Wales squad to face England on Saturday. He felt tight last week during training with his club.

”After playing 90 minutes on Saturday he felt some muscle tightness. Initially, this was expected to be muscle soreness after playing his first game. On joining up with the Welsh squad he was kept off his feet in training for two days to recover.

”As he still felt tight in the warm-up on Tuesday, Gareth was pulled out of the session. He did not train at all on Wednesday and was sent for a scan. The scan revealed that Gareth Bale picked up his injury last week.”

The Tottenham winger will now return to London for treatment on Thursday morning, but it is not yet clear whether he will be fit in time for Tottenham’s Champions League quarter-final first leg against Real Madrid on April 5.

The loss of flying winger Bale, now considered one of European football’s most potent threats when on top form, is a blow for a Wales side hoping to upset their near-neighbours at Millennium Stadium. England and Tottenham striker Peter Crouch had only spoken on Wednesday of the need to stop his club team-mate if England were to find success in Cardiff.

Crouch said: “Wales’ biggest threat is Gareth Bale. We only assess opponents on Thursday and Friday, look at videos and I’m sure Gareth will be prominent in a lot of those videos.”

Although Crouch did not know at the time that Bale might not play, his appraisal of Cardiff’s on-loan forward Craig Bellamy – who played with Crouch at Liverpool – hints at where Wales might now turn for attacking inspiration.

He said: “Craig is a good lad. He gets a lot of stick but he only wants to win. When you see him from afar, you see him shouting at refs and shouting at anyone who will listen. But the only reason he’s like that is he wants to win. I remember when he was at Liverpool him shouting and screaming at me during one training session. Afterwards I pulled him and said ‘what’s that about?’ and he said ‘I forgot’.

“He doesn’t know he does it, he just says, ‘That’s the way I play and I have to shout to get myself geed up for a game’, and that’s fully understandable. All the talk will be about Gareth Bale but Bellamy is certainly a player we have to watch out for.”

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