Former Manchester City and Liverpool striker Mario Balotelli has been labelled as a 'zombie' by former Switzerland assistant manager Michel Pont with the Italian's current club FC Sion bottom of the Swiss Super League.
The 32-year-old joined Sion for £2million last summer and has since been made captain. However, Balotelli was subbed off at half-time of their match with Servette on Saturday, a match the Swiss outfit went on to lose 5-0.
Sion had gone 3-0 down inside nine minutes, with ex-Arsenal and City defender Gael Clichy scoring from the halfway line.
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The bottom-placed club sacked coach David Bettoni on Monday morning.
Since, Pont has had a say on the Sion skipper, saying: "Sion have a zombie out on the pitch, and that is Mario Balotelli. He destroys everything.
"You could call their entire team zombies, but that is not true - he is the only one."It's not possible for them to keep making him their captain. He ruins the atmosphere at the club.
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"I'm sick to the back teeth with him. You can't take the p*** out of an institution like FC Sion. Personally I can't stand any more of Balotelli.
"Inside the club his teammates appreciate him, and he has a lot of sympathy, including from the coaching staff. But it's three coaches now who have hit a brick wall with him.
"When your captain shows the sort of body language and attitude that Balotelli has shown, that is just too much."
FC Sion have won 13 Swiss Cups and been named Swiss champions on two occasions but haven't lifted silverware since the 2014/15 season.
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However, they also haven't played outside of the top-flight since 2006 and their relegation would mark the end of a 17-year stay in the Super League. Although, their maintaining their top-flight status is still in tact as they are currently just a point off of safety with three matches to go.
The 32-year-old has scored six league goals in 18 matches this term having joined from Turkish club Adana Demirspor. Having won the Premier League with Manchester City as well as having spells with Liverpool and AC Milan, the downturn in Balotelli's career was hard to predict to say the least.
Topics: Italy, Liverpool, Manchester City, Mario Balotelli, Football
Dan Hargraves