Mario Balotelli Scores on Italy Return, Azzurri Beat Saudi Arabia 2-1

Mario Balotelli returned for Italy's national team on Monday and scored in an international friendly against Saudi Arabia, helping the Azzurri to a 2-1 win. 

Super Mario opened the scoring in the first half, and his replacement Andrea Belotti added to the lead after the break. A defensive error and blunder from Gianluigi Donnarumma gifted Yahya Al Shehri a goal, but Italy held on for the win.

Here are the key talking points from Monday's friendly.

Balotelli's Return was Long Overdue

If Monday's outing was anything to go by, Italy may well have been headed for the World Cup this summer if Balotelli had been in the squad last year.

The Nice forward―who will soon become a free agent and will likely have a ton of clubs after him―was active and involved from the start, standing out for his passing and ability to hold up play.

More importantly, he made something out of nothing for the opening goal, the kind of individual effort Italy sorely needed in the play-offs against Sweden. Italian Football TV loved it:

For all of his controversy and problems at the club level, Balotelli has always been a productive member of the national team when given the chance. With the Azzurri, he was usually surrounded by veterans like Gianluigi Buffon, Andrea Barzagli and Giorgio Chiellini, and it always had a positive effect on him.

Despite all of that, Balotelli hadn't been called up in four years.

Given his form with Nice for the last two years, perhaps Italy should have recalled him a lot sooner.

Mancini Can't Fix all of Italy's Problems

New Italy manager Roberto Mancini earned many plaudits with his first team selection, opting for several youngsters and bringing back Balotelli. The product on the pitch on Monday was similar to what fans have gotten used to in the last two years, however, as the Azzurri were bland, uninspired and lacked creativity.

Mancini hasn't been around long enough to fix all of the team's issues, but the lack of creativity is down to the players available, not the coach. There's good news for Italy, however, as talented youngsters like Federico Chiesa and Rolando Mandragora have the potential to fix that problem if they continue their development.

Donnarumma's Blunders are Becoming an Issue

Yes, Davide Zappacosta's terrible decision to dwindle on the ball gifted the Saudi's the attack that led to their goal. And yes, Donnarumma is still just 19 years old, and younger goalkeepers have to battle through their fair share of mistakes. But Donnarumma's issues of late have become a major problem, both on the club and international level.

Earlier this month, there were the two poor interventions in the Coppa Italia final that decided the contest in Juventus favour. Those two errors prompted these quotes from Mancini, hours before his latest blunder on Monday:

Donnarumma has everything a top goalkeeper could ask for as far as his physical gifts go, but these errors are of the mental kind, and that can doom a career. He needs to clean things up quickly, or Mancini might be forced to turn to one of Italy's other top prospects at the position, like Mattia Perin, Alex Meret or even team-mate Alessandro Plizzari, who at the age of 18 might soon become a wanted man on the transfer market himself. 

Anyone Can Qualify From Group A

Saudi Arabia aren't a bad team, but against an Italian side that's trying to find an identity, getting used to a new manager and is devoid of the world-class talent of the last decade, they did far too little to stand out.

Their relative lack of quality, coupled with Mohamed Salah's injury concerns and Russia's homefield advantage, means Group A will be wide open this summer, with Uruguay favourites to win it.

Egypt remain the favourites for second place, especially if Salah is fit in time for the tournament, but there's no reason why Russia and Saudi Arabia shouldn't like their chances.

What's Next?

Italy visit France on Friday, while Saudi Arabia play Peru on Sunday.