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The Juventus defender criticized both players in an upcoming autobiography and two former Italian teammates have given their opinion on the resulting dispute.
Former Italian forwards Antonio Cassano and Luca Toni have gotten into a war of words between Giorgio Chiellini, Mario Balotelli and Felipe Melo.
Juventus defender Chiellini caused a stir on Saturday when excerpts from an upcoming autobiography were published in the Italian media.
Chiellini said Balotelli “deserved a slap” for his conduct in international service with Italy and called Melo “the worst of the worst, a bad apple.”
Both players responded almost immediately. Melo fondly recalled “slapping Juventus from the Champions League” with Galatasaray, while Balotelli replied: “At least I have the sincerity and courage to say things face to face.”
Now Cassano, who played with Chiellini and Balotelli for Italy, says he doesn’t know what the defender was talking about, but feels that “he must have had his good reasons.”
“I don’t know Felipe Melo, I haven’t played with him and I don’t know what kind of person he is,” Cassano said on Instagram Live with Christian Vieri. “Mario is a boy, a good boy, so I don’t know what Chiellini was referring to.
“What I can assure you is that I have enormous respect for Giorgio. He is super smart, he understands football, he killed you on the field when you played against him, but outside he is a great person.
“He must have had his good reasons. I know Mario superficially, but I spent ten years with Chiellini in the national team and he is good and educated. “
Giorgio Chiellini shot against Mario Balotelli and Felipe Melo.
They were fired directly.
– Gol (@goal) May 10, 2020
Former Bayern Munich and Juventus forward Toni also had his say on the dispute. He noted that Chiellini would have been interested in increasing his interest in his next book, but that he would love to see him face Balotelli on the field anyway.
“The books are peculiar,” said Toni to Vieri. “When you write one, you also have to find things that are headlines. I think they were both right, but they were wrong to behave as they did.
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“Of course, if it’s something he never said to his face, then it’s not pleasant, but Balotelli certainly will have done something.”
“It is even worse when certain discussions spread to social media. It would be better if they talked and clarified things. Judging from Balotelli’s response, these are things that were never told to his face. You have to understand where the truth is and know the situation.
“So at a time like this, when there is little to talk about … of course it would be nice if the season resumed with Chiellini against Balotelli.”
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