Mario Balotelli has announced that rescuing England’s seemingly doomed World Cup campaign will come at a price – he expects a kiss from the Queen.

The Italy and former Manchester City striker, who scored the winning goal in Italy’s opening victory over the Three Lions, caused quite the stir when he took to Twitter, just minutes after England’s 2-1 defeat to Uruguay, which left Roy Hodgson’s side teetering on the brink of elimination.

England’s stay of execution will be extended until their final group game, should Italy defeat Costa Rica on Friday – a point not lost on Balotelli, who swiftly delivered his Royal demands to his 2.4m Twitter followers.

Balotelli’s message has gone viral has been retweeted more than 130,000 times while the Belgium defender Vincent Kompany was among those to reply with “Wouldn’t even surprise me”. How it will be received at Buckingham Palace remains to be seen.