Fireworks, women’s prison or strip club before the game. Recall Mario Balotelli’s craziest moments

When the name Mario Balotelli is mentioned, every fan imagines the same thing. A huge talent, but he didn’t have the head for top football and his behaviour spoiled a promising career. What has Super Mario done?

Inter Milan, Manchester City, AC Milan, Liverpool. The names of the teams Balotelli has played for are more than wordy. But the Italian striker has had much more to do.

He first appeared in adult football in the 2007/08 season, when he played 11 games for Inter and scored 3 goals. In the following season he played 27 competitive games and scored 9 goals. The following season he added 8 goals and earned a transfer to Manchester City.

He played 3 seasons there, scoring 10 goals in the first season and 16 in the second. So he went to AC Milan, where he shone again. In the spring part of the 2012/13 Serie A season he played 13 games and scored 12 goals. In the following season, he netted 14 goals in the league, adding 3 in the Champions League.

Before the 2014/15 season, he returned to England, where he was selected by Liverpool. However, he was not very successful there, playing 16 games in the Premier League and scoring 1 goal, scoring once in the Capital One Cup, once in the Champions League and once in the Europa League. So he returned to AC Milan, where he didn’t continue his phase and scored a single goal in 20 league games.

But then came another awakening at Nice. First season, 23 games in Ligue 1, 15 goals, one goal in the cup and one in the Europa League. Second season, 28 games in Ligue 1, 18 goals, one goal in the cup and one in the Europa League. But then his form dropped again and the next season Balotelli didn’t score once. He left for Marseille in the winter, where he scored 8 times in 15 games.

Then he went to Brescia in Serie A (19z/5g), then to Monza in the second league (14z/6g), and since the summer he has been playing in Turkey for Adana Demirspor (18z/7g). As you can see, Balotelli is a great goal scorer. However, he is extremely difficult to handle, a nightmare for any coach. Let’s remind ourselves why.

Celebrating the Muscleman – June 2012

Balotelli played for Italy at Euro 2012 and helped the underrated team reach the final, scoring three times in the tournament. When he scored for Germany, he ripped off his jersey and stood firm as a statue. This photo subsequently went around the world and was the subject of several jokes.

Killing racists – February 2012

Before Euro 2012, racism was a big topic. However, Mario Balotelli wasn’t too concerned with it and had a clear message for them: ‘I will not accept racism under any circumstances. It is unacceptable. If someone throws a banana at me in the street, I will go to jail because I will kill them,” Balotelli proclaimed at the time.

Strip club before the game – January 2012

In March 2012, Balotelli once again drew all the attention to himself. Manchester City coach Roberto Mancini had a rule that players were not allowed to go out on the town 48 hours before a game. However, this rule was absolutely broken by Balotelli, who made his way to the strip club at 2am on Thursday night to Friday. The Citizens, meanwhile, were playing on Saturday. He was fined £400,000 for his trip.

Fencing in an Indian restaurant – December 2011

The night before the game against Manchester United, Mario went to an Indian restaurant with his friends. They took kitchen rollers from the waiters, which they then fenced with in the restaurant. In less than 12 hours, Balotelli scored 2 goals in a 6-1 win over their city rivals.

Step on the head – January 2012

In Manchester City’s game against Tottenham, he stomped on the head of a prone Scott Parker. Inexplicably, he did not see a red card for his tackle, but was subsequently given a four-match suspension.

Why it’s always me – November 2011

When Balotelli scored the first goal of the game against Manchester United, he rolled up his jersey, where the words “Why Always Me?” shone Balotelli never explained the meaning of the sign.

Fireworks out the window – November 2011

In the autumn of 2011, Mario and his friends decided to throw a house party. At one o’clock at night, they had the brilliant idea to set off fireworks from their bathroom window. But he caught a towel in the process and the whole bathroom burned down. After the firefighters arrived, Balotelli went to the hotel where he spent the night.

The comical part of all this is that it all happened just a day before the game against Manchester United, in which Balotelli opened the scoring and pulled out a shirt that read “Why is it always me?”.

Showing off in LA – June 2011

In the preliminary match against LA Galaxy, Balotelli was all alone in front of the goalkeeper and could have comfortably cleared the ball into the net. Instead, he tried to take a swing, but the turn didn’t go his way and he kicked the ball wide with his heel. An angry coach immediately replaced him.

Disobedient differentiator – May 2011

In May 2011, Balotelli once again entertained all football fans. That’s when he fought with a razor he couldn’t put on at any cost. He struggled with the tie for almost a minute until someone from the management team had to help him.

A fabulous win for the homeless – April 2011

In April 2011, Mario took a trip to the casino where he won $25,000. As he was leaving, he saw a homeless man outside the building to whom he gave $1,000 in cash.

Money in the car – April 2011

While driving in his luxury Bentley, Mario was stopped by police officers and to their surprise, Balotelli had $25,000 in the passenger seat. When asked why, Balotelli simply replied, “Because I can”.

Darts – March 2011

At Manchester City’s training centre, Balotelli was spotted throwing darts at the youth team players. “I was bored,” Balotelli explained afterwards. He was fined $100,000 for the incident.

Parking fines – 2010

After his move to Manchester, Balotelli was absolutely unconcerned about where he could and could not park. He ended up racking up a total of $10,000 in fines that he didn’t pay.

Women’s Prison – October 2010

One of the craziest things in Balotelli’s life. He and his brother wanted to see what it was like in the women’s prison, so they went right inside. However, for “mysterious” reasons, this is not possible and the police stopped the brothers at the gate. “I asked my brother: ‘Do you want to see what the prison is like?’ So I went inside,” Balotelli explained to Italian television.

Red card under Mourinho – October 2011

José Mourinho also had his own experience with the Italian. The Portuguese coach coached Balotelli at Inter Milan, transferring him to the B team or leaving him only in the stands several times over two years. “It was fun with Mario, I could write a 200-page book,” Mourinho told CNN. And he added one amusing story.

“We went to a Champions League match in Kazan. All my strikers were injured. No Milito, no Eto’o. We really had a problem, Mario was our only striker. He got a yellow card in the 42nd or 43rd minute. When we came into the dressing room, I spent 14 of the 15 minutes of the break just talking to Mario.

Mario, I can’t substitute you, I can’t make a change. I don’t have a striker on the bench. Don’t touch anybody, just play ball. If you lose the ball, don’t react. If someone provokes you, don’t react. If the referee makes a mistake, don’t react. Mario, please!” i tell him.

What do you think Mario did? 46.a minute and a red card...,” laughs Mourinho.

Source: Business Insider, CNN, The Guardian