Mario Balotelli has said his poor display in Nice's Champions League playoff exit was due to a lack of fitness and vowed to "prove wrong once again" the fans who whistled him.
Balotelli was whistled off by his own team's fans when he was substituted in the second half of Nice's 2-0 loss to Napoli in last Tuesday's playoff second leg after a display that was criticised by coach Lucien Favre.
The striker had missed the first leg with a hamstring problem and had played just 26 minutes of competitive football before facing the side that finished third in last season's Serie A.
He said in an Instagram post accompanied by a totally black picture that his performance had been severely restricted by his physical state, and reaffirmed his commitment to Nice's cause with the club, third in Ligue 1 last season, having picked up just three points from their four opening matches of the campaign.
The former Manchester City and AC Milan striker, who missed Saturday's 3-0 league defeat at newly promoted Amiens, wrote: "I will try my best to makes Nice to come out of this black period .. last game I played I was still injured and I speeded up my come back but I was still not even 50% .. I speeded up my come back because I really wanted to help and as you all know I couldn't.
"Now I'm coming out of a flue which I had for 4 days already that's why I wasn't in Amiens. I know is always easy to attack me when things don't go in the right way and it makes me sad and proud at the same time because it means ou people still beliving in me but all I can do is to prove wrong once again to all of those that were whistling at me.
"Kids fall men stand up. We are men so let's not stay angry and look forward."