When Noel Gallagher met Mario Balotelli

Balotelli on the funny stories:

Did you give a tramp £1,000 after winning in the casino?: "Never"

Is it true a young lad turned up at the training ground asking for your autograph and, when asked why he wasn't at school, he said he was being bullied, so you took him to school and spoke to the headmaster?: "No. It's not true I took him to school. I tell him why he wasn't at school but not took him to school."

Did your mum send you to John Lewis for an ironing board and you came back with a quad bike, a Scalectrix and a tennis table?: "Yes. But not a tennis table, it was a trampoline."

Are you allergic to a specific kind of grass?: "I'm allergic to the dry grass, not the green one, the brown one."

Did you go to church on Xmas Eve and put £1,000 in the collection plate?: "I put some money in but not a thousand."

Did you go to the pub in Wythenshawe and buy everyone a drink?: "No"

Did you go to a petrol station and pay for everyone's petrol?: "No, not true."

Did you drive around Manchester dressed as Santa handing out money?: "No."

Balotelli on Roberto Mancini:

"If Mancini wasn't here I think I would never come here."

Balotelli on Jose Mourinho:

"I think he's a great manager but he didn't understand me [at Inter Milan]. He said that nobody could understand me but I think the only one who couldn't understand me is him, so it's his problem."

Balotelli on magic tricks:

"There is one guy, he's in Manchester. I was in the Trafford Centre and he came and just showed me tricks. One day I invited him to my house to teach me something. [I only know one trick] But it's difficult."

Balotelli on maturing:

"I'm 21 so I'm still young. I think already from last year I'm already bigger in my head. If you look at me from outside and don't know me you think I'm an idiot."

Balotelli on privacy:

"When people talk about my business, my life, I'm really private. Maybe someone thinks I'm arrogant or something but it's just me."

Balotelli on the media's fascination with him:

"I don't care because they can say what they want. I'm a footballer so the most important moment is on Sunday on the pitch. They say a lot of stuff about me but they are just lying, they don't even know. If I go out in the street and one guy gets a picture, then someone calls the press to say Mario was there. The day after in the press it's 'Mario was there'. That's normal, I just walk in town like a normal guy."

Balotelli on the fireworks incident:

"It started like a joke. I was bored. I was with my friends and one of them was leaving. So I got one bin, but a metal one, to put the fireworks inside. Nothing was going to happen so I left the room and left the fireworks inside but didn't light them. I walked out and my friend went in the room and just started screaming. The fireworks were going off. They put out the fireworks in the toilet but just the curtain caught fire. That's it."

Balotelli on the "Why always me?" T-shirt:

"It was to all the people who are always talking bad about me and say stuff that's not nice about me and they don't know me. I was just asking, 'Why always me?'"

Balotelli on being the best player in the world:

"I would like but it's not only something you would like, it is something you have to work for."