AC Milan striker, Mario Balotelli posted a picture of himself playing table tennis this week, despite suffering a shoulder injury - but his boss insists it could be helping his recovery

AC Milan Head coach Clarence Seedorf has hit back at critics of Mario Balotelli after the striker courted controversy on Twitter earlier this week.

Balotelli posted a picture of himself after playing table tennis, despite being ruled out of Italy's friendly defeat to Spain with a shoulder injury.

Seedorf, however, insists the former Manchester City man would have been aiding his recovery by playing the game and slammed sections the Italian media for their coverage of the incident.

"If he plays ping-pong, who cares? It doesn't affect his recovery," he told reporters at Milanello on Friday.

"For you, that tweet is news, that's the sad thing, that in Italy this is a news story. It's not news for me, it's something trivial you could avoid.

"I have a different view of it, perhaps playing ping-pong helped him to move his arm a little. Or are you all doctors? And do you think he did something which caused him discomfort?"

Seedorf went on to stress he would not attempt to curb Balotelli's use of social media accounts and insisted he will be ready to face Udinese this weekend following his recovery work.

"I'm not here to say how players must use social networks and how you can ban the boys from tweeting," said the Dutchman.

"What Mario did is his responsibility. I'm only concerned in the six hours a day of treatment. He trained well and is available for Udinese.

"He still feels pain but he'll have to live with it for a while because these aren't things which disappear from one day to the next."