SOCCER: ENGLISH PREMIER LEAGUE CONTROVERSIAL STRIKER Mario Balotelli will not be picked again this season by Manchester City and is likely to be sold at the end of the campaign, said manager Roberto Mancini after their 1-0 Premier League defeat at Arsenal.

Balotelli was sent off for the second time this season as Citys hopes of lifting the top-flight title for the first time in 44 years were effectively extinguished at the Emirates.

“I have finished my work with him, I am finished today, but I love him as a guy,” Mancini told reporters. “He is not a bad guy and he is a fantastic player, but at this moment I am very sorry for him as he is continuing to lose his talent and his quality.

“I hope he understands he is in a bad way for his future and he must change his behaviour. He will not play again , and I will probably try to sell him in the summer.

“He is a fantastic player but I can’t continue to have Mario on the pitch. We have problems every time,” Mancini said of his fellow Italian after Manchester United, with a 2-0 win over QPR, opened an eight-point lead over second-placed City at the top of the table.

“Every time we risk a sending-off, like today.”

Balotelli has kept the front- and back-page headline writers busy with a succession of on and off-the-field antics all season. The Italian international was lucky to stay on the pitch after a dangerous studs-up first-half challenge on Arsenal’s Alex Song that the referee did not see.

Two separate yellow cards later for nasty challenges on Bacary Sagna meant he was dismissed in the 90th minute.