Football
Ian Holyman, France correspondent 7y

Mario Balotelli makes most prolific Ligue 1 start since Zlatan Ibrahimovic

Nice striker Mario Balotelli has scored six goals in five Ligue 1 games, with only Zlatan Ibrahimovic making a more prolific start to his Ligue 1 career.

Ibrahimovic, 35, scored seven goals in his opening five Ligue 1 matches after joining Paris Saint-Germain from AC Milan in 2012.

Balotelli, 26, found the net in his team's 4-1 win over Nantes on Sunday to move onto six for the season, meaning his has scored in all but one of his appearances since his summer transfer from Liverpool.

Radamel Falcao scored four in his first five league games after he joined Monaco in 2013 while Edinson Cavani, who left Napoli for PSG at the same time, struck only twice in his first five league matches in France.

Despite his sensational start to life at Nice, Balotelli still has room for improvement, according to his new boss, Lucien Favre.

"He made a great run for his goal. He's very good in those sorts of situations," Favre, who has used the Italy international sparingly, said on the club's official website. "He had had a week of complete rest and then a normal week.

"I have said it again and again: there is still a lot of work to do. Today, he did more tracking back than he had done previously. It's positive."

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