Focus: Balotelli (right) is not the only maverick in the Italy camp

They off-loaded him to Milan, where it seemed he would see out each season weighing more and playing less.

But Prandelli had taken over as Italy coach and he quickly paired Cassano with Balotelli.

His Milan form has been good.

Yet his renaissance was nearly cruelly derailed last November when he developed problems with vision, speech and movement on a flight.

He had corrective surgery on a minor heart defect and spent five months out of football.

Maybe it was the massive show of affection from his peers; or perhaps the death from a heart attack of Livorno's Piermario Morosini a week after Cassano returned to action, but events have made him more determined to make the last seasons of his career the best.

'I never expected to be in this event,' he said. 'It's a gift - I want to make the most of it.'

The playboy days are over and wife Carolina Marcialis, a former Italy water polo international, has brought their son Christopher to support the Azzurri No 10.

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