Mario Balotelli and AC Milan are headed to the Champions League once again and his coach Massimiliano Allegri has nothing but praise for the Italian striker.
Allegri told the team's official website that he was thrilled with his young star's behavior and how he performed in the second leg of the playoff against PSV.
"Balotelli played a great game," Allegri said, according to Goal.com. "He has taken on a lot of responsibility. He's a real professional."
Balotelli supplied a late goal in the tie to help Milan to a 3-0 victory at home after only a 1-1 draw in the opener.
Regarding his overall team's effort, Allegri added, "We drew the toughest team out of the draw and the players have done really well and they deserve the win."
"It would have been a shame to let the Champions League out of our grasp after all that we did in getting third place last term," he noted. "The players did well and they get the credit. We're a young team and sometimes we pat ourselves on the back too much for what we've done but that shouldn't happen again."
Milan is part of Pot 2, which also includes Atletico Madrid, Shakhtar Donetsk, AC Milan, Schalke 04, Marseille, CSKA Moscow, Paris Saint-Germain and Juventus.
Here is how the other three pots break down.
Pot 1: Bayern Munich (holders), Barcelona, Chelsea, Real Madrid, Manchester United, Arsenal, FC Porto, Benfica
Pot 3: Zenit St Petersburg, Manchester City, Ajax, Borussia Dortmund, FC Basel, Olympiakos, Galatasaray, Bayer Leverkusen
Pot 4: FC Copenhagen, Napoli, Anderlecht, Celtic, Steaua Bucharest, Viktoria Plzen, Real Sociedad, Austria Vienna
The drawing takes place Thursday at 11:45 a.m. EST.
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