"?Manchester City and Spain attacker David Silva is a slower version of Lionel Messi, according to former teammate Mario Balotelli.
Speaking to the "?Manchester Evening News, Balotelli labelled the attacking midfielder "the slow Messi."
Both diminutive players are similar in their styles using predominantly their left feet and having excellent close control which makes it easy to slide past defenders.
However, in David Silva's entire club career he has scored just 59 goals while Messi has bagged 453 for his club making any comparison look slightly off.
Balotelli though believes that Silva and his magic left foot is just one of the reasons why people cannot afford to write Spain off in this tournament.
"Spain is always Spain. They're never going to be a weak opponent, ever.
"In the last Euros I remember they played with Fabregas up front for almost all the competition, and they won it. So I don't think it's a big deal for them," the Italian striker said.
Balotelli himself didn't make the Italian squad after a poor season at AC Milan and will instead have to watch all the games from the comfort of his own home.
Spain and David Silva get their Euro 2016 campaign going on Monday against the Czech Republic with Silva in line to make his 100th appearance for the national side.
Spain are just third favourites in the competition behind both France and Germany in the betting, despite the fact they have won the competition on the last two occasions.
Indeed, if Mario Balotelli's thoughts are anything to go by, then David Silva and his teammates could be set to go against the odds to win their third European Championships in a row.
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