Scoring on the world’s biggest stage for Italy, playing for some of the biggest clubs in European football and setting his own house on fire. Mario Balotelli truly is one of the biggest enigmas to ever grace the game. At 32-years-old, Super Mario is actually still playing football – he’s currently in the Swiss Super League with Sion.
However, it’s been almost three years since he last played in one of Europe’s top five leagues and ultimately, Balotelli failed to ever live up to the hype. Although, he did still manage to collect a number of the sport’s greatest honours, such as three Scudetto’s, a Champions League and a Premier League title.
Below, we take you through the tempestuous career of Balotelli: the highs and the lows, red cards, air pistols, a car crash and even the Italian mafia.
Early Beginnings with Inter
Having been adopted by the Balotelli family when he was just an infant, it wasn’t the easiest of beginnings for Mario. His first big move was to Inter back in 2006 and murmurs of his talent started to rise when he was still a teenager. After scoring a brace against Juventus in the quarter-finals of the Coppa Italia in 2008, Balotelli would announce himself to the rest of the nation, aged just 17.
Roberto Mancini was the man who introduced Balotelli into the senior team but it was under Jose Mourinho where he started to establish regular playing time, making 31 Serie A appearances and scoring ten goals during the 2008/09 season. However, that was also when disciplinary issues started to kick in and everyone knows about the story Mourinho relayed when he begged the striker not to get sent off against Rubin Kazan but he still couldn’t resist the second yellow.
Mourinho was unimpressed with the forward’s lack of work rate, especially in training. This even led to a number of his teammates also criticising him, with captain Javier Zanetti highlighting his lack of effort. Various fallings out with Mourinho throughout the season saw him dropped from the squad at times but let’s not forget that Balotelli was also dealing with racist abuse throughout the campaign from Juventus fans.
An Air Pistol & The Mafia
Balotelli’s time with the Nerazzurri was surely coming to the end. He was booed by his own fans when he threw his shirt on the ground after a dismal display in the Champions League semi-final against Barcelona and was even spotted wearing a Milan shirt on an Italian TV show. His time with Inter was over and he would join Manchester City in the summer of 2010. Still, he left Lombardy with three Serie A titles to his name and a Champions League medal, being a part of the famous treble-winning team under Mourinho.
However, he didn’t depart Milan before firing his air pistol with a group of friends in Piazza della Repubblica, drawing the attention of the police. Balotelli was even photographed with members of the Neapolitan mafia when he visited Naples, leading to an investigation from anti-mafia investigators. He hadn’t even turned 20 yet and had experienced a fascinating life.
It was truly an eventful end to his time in Italy but Balotelli would be reunited with Mancini when he joined the Citizens. Nevertheless, the controversy wouldn’t end there and he crashed his white Bentley in Manchester in 2011, also visiting a women’s prison and throwing a dart at a youth player at the training ground that same year.
Success and Fireworks
Success still seemed to follow Balotelli, despite the off-field shenanigans. He was awarded the Golden Boy Award in 2010 and would also go on to win the FA Cup and Premier League with City, even providing the assist for that Sergio Aguero goal to win their first ever Premier League title in 2012. Wherever Super Mario went, drama followed.
His footballing career in the North of England was met with problems, however, and ill-discipline was an issue. He was sent off for violent conduct against West Brom, despite scoring both goals in a 2-0 win. Red cards and suspensions continued to follow throughout his City career, limiting his appearances, but he still managed to contribute 13 goals in 23 Premier League appearances during their title-winning campaign.
That same season, Balotelli also revealed the shirt that said ‘Why always me?’ as he scored the opener in City’s 6-1 demolition of rivals Manchester United at Old Trafford. There seems to be a recurring theme as to why it’s always you, Mario. The day before the Manchester derby, Balotelli’s astounding behaviour drew attention from the police once more after he had set off fireworks in his bathroom, causing his house to set on fire.
Jose Mourinho: “I remember a game in Kazan in the Champions League. All my strikers were injured. I was really in trouble, Mario Balotelli was the only one. Mario got a yellow in minute 42. At half-time, I spent 14 minutes out of 15 talking to him.” pic.twitter.com/mHCOcEmdED
— Masood Daud (@moyaleMirror) March 19, 2023
Balotelli The Postman
Of course, Super Mario had to leave his mark on the Azzurri. Balotelli had originally stated that “When I score, I don’t celebrate because I’m only doing my job. When a postman delivers letters, does he celebrate?” However, a day later, whether he knew it would stir up the media even more or it was just that his emotions got the better of him during a European Championship semi-final for Italy, Balotelli would do the exact opposite.
After scoring a brace against Germany, he stripped off and flexed his muscles, resulting in a number of internet memes spreading across social media. In light of all the drama, let’s not forget that Balotelli managed to put Italy into the final of Euro 2012.
His time with Man City appeared to be heading towards its end after that and prior to Euro 2012, Mancini was clearly starting to get fed up with Balotelli’s behaviour. He would head back to Italy to join Milan in January 2013 and performed well, scoring 26 league goals in 43 appearances. However, it appeared to be the beginning of the end for Super Mario at the pinnacle of the game.
The End of the Headlines
Finally, aged 24, Balotelli seemed to have settled down. It was a whirlwind of a career for over less than a decade but the end of his name in the headlines seems to have coincided with a decline in his football. Perhaps he needed the craziness off the pitch to fuel his quality on it.
Balotelli failed to impress at Liverpool, after joining them in 2014, and scored just one Premier League goal before heading back to Milan on loan. He even managed to score a goal at the 2014 World Cup but it was a disappointing performance by the Azzurri as they failed to make it out of the groups.
Things have never been quite the same for Balotelli since he joined Liverpool and he has failed to reach the same heights as he did at the beginning of his career. He still found moderate success in France, Italy and Turkey and now finds himself in Switzerland. However, life will never be the same as it was at the beginning of his career and Super Mario will truly go down as one of the biggest enigmas that football has ever seen.