AC Milan striker Mario Balotelli has claimed that he was "unlucky" when a firework went off in his home in Cheshire during his stint at Manchester City.

The authorities were called when the forward's bathroom curtain went up in flames when a firework flew wayward, but Balotelli has insisted that the incident was exaggerated at the time.

"Yeah, that's one, but it wasn't me," Balotelli told Sports Illustrated. "I got unlucky. It wasn't like my house was on fire. It was just the bathroom, because one firework went the wrong way.

"It took the curtain, and the curtain got on fire and the smoke went around the house, but we weren't inside. We were outside with the fireworks."

Balotelli also denied that he gave £2,000 to a homeless man while at City.