balotelli fires up again
Much as it pains me to say it, I’m starting to warm to “mad-as-a-cut-snake” Mario Balotelli, despite his latest stamping incident. Whether it’s setting his bathroom on fire after lighting fireworks and launching them out the window (and really, who hasn’t done that?), the outrageous back-heel miss in a US tournament, or his series of training ground punch-ups with team-mates, he’s quite obviously not your average player. Then there’s the football. Sublimely gifted, the young Mario was always trouble from the beginning, particularly for some of the notoriously racist ultras who don’t believe black Italians should exist, let alone play for the Azzurri, and Mario wasn’t having that. Making his senior debut at 19 and becoming the first black player to score for Italy, he still seems like he always has a point to prove. Whether some of his antics are borne of frustration, the dramas of spoiled youth or just plain nuttiness, the sullen showboating skills that go with his bad attitude and ridiculous haircuts mean if he can only stay on the pitch City might actually confound the sceptics and take their first title since 1968. Stay mad Mario, but not that mad.







