(Un)Friendly banter? Zlatan and Balotelli going back and forth on achievements

Two strong-minded personas, to say the least. It is never boring when they are around. Their statement for the press raise eyebrows, are often cited and recycled and let's not forget the level of talent they both showed in their career. And from their own points of view, the other has something to be jealous about when looking at the one talking.

Mario Balotelli has fired back at former team-mate Zlatan Ibrahimovic after his recent comments regarding the Italian's playing career.

Despite sharing a dressing room at Inter Milan for two seasons, between 2007-09, Balotelli and Ibrahimovic have not held back in their scathing critiques of each other.

The conflict began when the Swedish star was asked to compare his former team-mate Rafael Leao with the ex-Man City striker Balotelli.

According to the Gazzetta dello Sport, he said: 'When a kid has the chance to exploit his talent and misses opportunities it's a shame.

'Balotelli had many, and he missed them all. This is the truth. Leao is not like Mario, that shot from the wrong heel is brilliant stuff.

'If he scores like that, he's a genius. And that thing makes you understand why Leao is there and Balotelli instead is in the stands'.

Evidently, Balotelli did not take kindly to Ibrahimovic's comments and quickly fired back via his own social media page.

The 33-year-old forward took to Instagram to share a picture of himself holding the Champions League trophy, after Inter Milan's success in 2009-10.

He confirmed that it was a response to the Swede by tagging his former team-mate on the post and captioning it with three heart emojis.

And, if that wasn't enough, Balotelli also offered a further response after commenting on an Instagram post that shared Ibrahimovic's original comments.

'In Manchester you were scared and I wanted to win (on the pitch). The year after we won the Champions League anyway, but Zlatan, I still love you.', Balotelli wrote with the post.

Balotelli draws reference to the Nerazzurri's defeat to Manchester United during the 2008-09 season, where both the Italian and Swede started up-front for Inter.

Ibramovic left Inter Milan the following summer, after securing a 45 million euros move to Barcelona, and consequently missed out on Inter's 2009 Champions League success.

Balotelli stayed at Inter for one year longer than Ibrahimovic, after he traded the Italian shores for Manchester when he secured a £23million move to City.

On top of his Champions League success at Inter, Balotelli also won three Serie A titles, one Coppa Italia, one Premier League and one FA Cup in his playing career.

At the end of September, Balotelli had his contract terminated at Swiss club Sion after just one season.

He since joined Adana Demirspor where's managed to score two goals from his opening two Super Lig games.

The Swedish legend has ended his professional playing career at the end of previous Serie A season as a Rossoneri and is often seen in and around the stadium since, which started rumours he might be joining the executive sector at San Siro.