McNamara wants a strong finish

AC Milan striker Mario Balotelli has insisted he is happy to have put his time at Manchester City behind him.

The Italian created numerous headlines during his tempestuous two-and-a-half years in England, but claims he was given a raw deal.

Balotelli, who returned to his homeland in January, says that his love of women and fast cars is just "normal".

He told CNN: "I'm really happy now. I have my family near me and my friends. I can relax and find my privacy, more than in England, where I was alone."

He added that many of the stories in the media bore little relation to the truth and he also defended his lifestyle.

Balotelli said: "Women I think is normal. Cars? I like fast cars and I don't see the problem if I like fast cars.

"Some things have happened in my life, some stuff unfortunately happens and they went in the newspapers straight away. But I don't see anything that would make people think that I'm bad or I'm crazy. I'm a normal guy.

"When you create an icon of a person in that kind of way, after everyone thinks you are like this and if you lie about it, everyone just thinks that it is all true. So maybe that's why they think I'm crazy and do crazy things.

"But I'm not here to talk about if I'm unfairly treated. I don't care. I'm out from England, I'm happy that I'm out from England. That's it."

The Tangerines host Neil Lennon's side in Sunday's televised encounter looking to bow out on a high after the disappointment of missing out on a European slot.

And McNamara wants them to give it one last big push in front of their own fans as they bid to pick up the three points in their final-day clash.

McNamara said: "We want to go for the three points.

"We're at home and we'll give it everything to try and get the victory we want to round off the season.

"I've told the players to go and enjoy it as it's the last game of the season and there's no real pressure as such.

"It's obviously still a big ask.

"We've got a lot of players still missing especially in defence which will make it tough.

"But we want to go for it all the same and have nothing to lose.

"We know on our day we can match anyone so hopefully the lads can do that again."

United returned to winning ways away to Inverness last weekend and McNamara reckons that should give them confidence going into their meeting with the Parkhead club.

He said: "It was a really good win last week.

"We showed a lot of character which we will have to show again for this game with Celtic.

"It was good to stop that losing streak although there were reasons why we had suffered a couple of defeats with all the players we have had out.

"We're stretched in terms of the squad but it's up to us to go out there and try for a positive result.

"The lads can take heart from the Inverness win.

"We were more like ourselves and it was just nice to get three points again after a couple of disappointing results.

"Our fans have been great so we also want to give them something to shout about on Sunday.

"Celtic will come here as champions and will want to try and go back home with the points.

"It's always hard against either half of the Old Firm but we know what to expect from that point of view.

"We're looking forward to it and it should be a good game for the fans as well."

United striker Johnny Russell could miss out as he feels stiff having returned from injury recently.

And long-term absentees Gavin Gunning and Sean Dillon are still missing for the Arabs.