Daniele De Rossi slammed Mario Balotelli. “We need real men, not Panini stickers or characters.”

The Roma midfielder spoke to La Repubblica after Italy’s World Cup elimination, sealed by a 1-0 defeat to Uruguay.

“There were certainly components that affected the result, like the heat or the refereeing, but we must not cling to these things,” said De Rossi.

Daniele De Rossi slammed Mario Balotelli. “We need real men, not Panini stickers or characters.”

The Roma midfielder spoke to La Repubblica after Italy’s World Cup elimination, sealed by a 1-0 defeat to Uruguay.

“There were certainly components that affected the result, like the heat or the refereeing, but we must not cling to these things,” said De Rossi.

“We must forget about all this quickly. Actually, I take that back: we should remember well what went wrong and begin again with real men.

“We need real men, not Panini stickers or characters. These are of no use to the Nazionale.”

It is widely believed De Rossi was referring to Balotelli, who posted on Twitter a picture of the Italy Panini album with his sticker in every slot.

Balo was substituted at half-time for risking a second yellow card and appeared detached from the group after the game.

When Cesare Prandelli went to announce his resignation, the entire squad waited in the dressing room for the Coach to return except for Balotelli, who sat on the team bus by himself.

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