Mario Balotelli with his newborn son (PHOTO)

Mario Balotelli has welcomed the birth of his second son, Lion, with a photograph posted in the build-up to Nice's Europa League clash with Lazio this week.

Reports in Italy last month claimed the former Liverpool and Manchester City striker's girlfriend Clelia had given birth to a baby boy named Lion, in Zurich.

And now Balotelli, 27, has posed with his second child for the first time to confirm the news. Lion, at almost three weeks old, is a brother to the forward's four-year-old daughter Pia.

Balotelli had previously kept quiet about the pregnancy, although he did take to Instagram in September to share a snapshot of a pregnant woman's belly, alongside the simple caption: 'Loading'.

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