Inter Milan vice-president Javier Zanetti is full of praise for Liverpool striker Mario Balotelli. The pair played together at Inter.

"With Mario, we accomplished very important things," he said to CNN World Sports. "I think that when he was with us, he was very young.

"Surely he still has a lot of things to give. I hope he is going to find the correct path, because he can have an amazing career.

"Mario wasn't aware of his qualities and he realised too late once he was out of Inter.

"Mario is a guy that everybody loved, everybody here tried to protect him because we knew that if we did, he could have a great career."