Imagine Scott Brown and Mario Balotelli in the same team?!
The former Celtic captain never played alongside the divisive Italian striker, but they did share the pitch together once upon a time.
Usually, it’s the no-nonsense Brown giving it to the opposition and making them uncomfortable; it’s partly why he is a legendary figure at Celtic.
But Brown explained that Balotelli is the only player he played against who gave him ‘a taste of his own medicine.’
During a career Q&A with the BBC, the former Ayr United manager shared a memorable story about Balotelli from Celtic’s 2013 Champions League clash against AC Milan at the San Siro under Neil Lennon.
“I remember going, ‘I am going to have him,'” said Brown. “There was a tackle maybe 20-25 minutes into the game. I have munched him about 30 yards out. Almost touched the ball.
“And he stood over me, he was saying, ‘You will not leave early unless it’s in a body bag.’”
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Scott Brown remembers an interesting Champions League moment with Mario Balotelli
At the age of 35, Balotelli is now at the end of his career and plying his trade in the Saudi Pro League for Al-Ittifaq.
At the peak of his powers, the all-action striker helped Manchester City win their first-ever Premier League title in dramatic fashion when he assisted Sergio Aguero’s stoppage-time goal on the last day of the season.
But Balotelli wasn’t afraid to make himself known or give it back to you, just like he did with Brown.
To be fair to Brown, when sharing the story, he did laugh about it, and he explained how he started questioning himself on the flight back home.
“Mario Balotelli, we played Milan away from home,” said Brown. “I knew he was a good player. I knew he had a little switch that could trigger at any point.
“I remember going, ‘I am going to have him.’ There was a tackle maybe 20-25 minutes into the game. I have munched him about 30 yards out. Almost touched the ball.
“And he stood over me, he was saying, ‘You will not leave early unless it’s in a body bag.’ I was like, ‘I haven’t had that said to me before,’ so not really sure if it’s true. The mafia over here can probably do that. ‘So, are you going to help us up, big man?’
“Yeah, so one time where I kind of got a bit of my own medicine. To be fair, on the flight home, I started laughing to myself thinking, ‘he was never going to do it. What am I doing?’”
Who played for Celtic in that game against AC Milan?
The game in question was a group stage match. Celtic would concede two late goals and lose the encounter.
But some interesting names were repping the famous green and white on that day.
Perhaps the biggest and most famous of them all is Virgil van Dijk. Amazingly enough, he played at right-back, with a certain Efe Ambrose and Mikael Lustig at the heart of defence.
- GK: Fraser Forster
- RB: Van Dijk
- CB: Mikael Lustig
- CB: Efe Ambrose
- LB: Izaguirre
- LM: Commons
- CM: Mulgrew
- CM: Matthews
- RM: Brown
- ST: Stokes
- ST: Samaras
SUBS: Załuska, Bitton, Boerrigter, Balde, Rogić, Pukki and McGeouch.
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