Mario Balotelli, the genius who refused to grow up.

In the summer of 1992, an abandoned black child in Brescia, Italy, was adopted by an Italian couple. As an abandoned baby, she was not satisfied with the adoption process and could only obtain Italian citizenship at the age of 18.The black boy, Mario Balotelli, is now an excellent and unique Italian striker.

Unlucky and lucky

He showed his soccer talent at a very young age, But because of the racial discrimination he suffered from his dark skin, he is more like an outsider is in Brescia training camp. Mario rarely talks with people, the young boy has no friends, and his childhood has almost no other colors except for family and soccer. He is unlucky, but he is also lucky to have great talent.At Brescia, 15 years and seven months old Mario has been playing for the team in the third division. His talent and skills have been far beyond his peers.

Mario Balotelli (pictured right) and his brother Enock Barwuah

After continued genius performance, Mario was quickly spotted by Inter Milan scouts. And was recruited to the youth team by Inter Milan. Mario coming to Inter is like coming to another home, the coach gave him plenty of love. Every weekend his parents would drive two hours to see him, and his family still gave him unlimited care and support.

The lucky boy's dazzling performance at inter has caught the eye of manager Roberto Mancini. Mario made his first first-team appearance in December 2007, scoring twice in the 90 minutes of the Coppa Italia two days later. Only one month later in the Coppa Italia, Mario began to make his mark in Inter's first team with two more goals against Juventus. Mario Balotelli, who has repeatedly risen from the bench to score crucial goals, has been nicknamed "super Mario" by his fans and the media.

The good teacher, such as the father

A year later, with Jose Mourinho in charge at inter, Balotelli has left Mancini, the coach who knew him best, to embrace one of the most important managers of his life. At the beginning of the season Balotelli to the coach's strict and not in mind, The undisciplined training attitude made Mourinho very angry, and Balotelli was subsequently suspended. Fortunately, the naughty children were regained the right way and discipline by the teacher. The correct attitude made Balotelli gradually sit in the position of the main forward in the second half. His performance was very good.

In the following 2009-2010 season, Mario played more roles as a winger and substitute as the squad was strengthened. Super Mario's magic continued, and Mario's big heart and cooperative style made him an excellent player for inter. With other excellent players such as Diego Milito and Wesley Sneijder, Inter played well to win the treble crown in that season.

But with Mourinho’s departure, the new coach can no longer give Mario full tolerance and patience as a family member, his bizarre character has become more and more intense, even outside the stadium put on Inter's sworn enemy AC Milan's shirt, which makes the fans and the management hard to accept. Finally in the Manchester city's offer, Mario chose to go to England to his mentor Mancini.

Refuse to grow up and self-destruct

After coming to the Premier League, Mario also has a good performance, but in Manchester, Mario has no control and restraint of the past. He is like a naughty teenager who went to another city to go to college and left his parents for the first time. This made him very indulgent and nonsensical. Under the "ubiquitous" attention of the British media, more and more news about Mario's violation of common sense and funny incidents appeared in the public. One of the most talked about is the incident of Mario playing fireworks and burning his house before the Manchester derby. According to the "bad boy", It was he and his friends who set off fireworks to ignite the towels in the bathroom, which eventually caused a fire at home. There are also reports that Mario used fireworks to study rocket launches at home and caused the fire. The funniest part is that shortly after the fire, Mario also served as a safety ambassador for fireworks. In addition, incidents such as darts accidentally injuring a teammate, driving into a women’s prison and being detained, etc. also made people laugh.

These off-field funny news could not hide the talent of the Italian striker. In fact, in the Manchester derby after the fire caused by fireworks, Mario dominated the 6-1 bloodbath with two goals. The genius took off his shirt after scoring two goals, revealing the words "Why Always Me" on his clothes, as if asking the world: "Why am I always the focus of all events?". In the last round of the 2011-12 Premier League match between Manchester City and the Queens Park Rangers, Substitute Mario fell to the ground and assisted Kun Aguero to complete the stoppage time lore, and directed Manchester City's winning miracle in the last 3 minutes.

Mario led the Italian team to the 2012 European Cup final with three key goals. Although he lost in the final, Mario won the hearts of fans with his genius performance and impressive way to celebrate. After the European Cup, he won the labels of "God of Football" and "Thinking Life".

Mario Balotelli scored two brilliant goals against his old opponent Germany. After the first goal, he took off his jersey and stood like a statue.

Mario, who stole Spanish defender Sergio Ramos, suddenly dribbled the ball slowly, which caused Sergio to quickly catch up and steal behind him, ruining this one-on-one opportunity. This operation was dubbed by fans as " Mario think about life"

His personality makes him fearless on the court, but he is overwhelmed by the amount of distractions out of court. In his first four years at Manchester city and AC Milan, he has consistently scored in double figures, but has not shown much progress or maturity. Mario Balotelli, who was unhappy at AC Milan, returned to England and joined Liverpool. Mario has all the conditions to be a great player, strong physical fitness, excellent soccer skills, and amazing abilities, but his performance on the court is not very good. When the chances of competing with opponents for the ball are equal, He rarely considers using his body to break through or squeeze opponents, especially in the face of fierce defense, Mario will always lose in the fight with the opponent. Coupled with the issue of personality, this makes him a player without leadership qualities, unable to lead a team like a captain.

At Liverpool, Mario was in a slump and lost the magic of "super Mario". He scored just eight goals in two years, 2014-2016. This performance has disappointed Liverpool management and fans, from joining Liverpool, to being loaned back to AC Milan due to poor performance, to returning to Liverpool and being abandoned. He went from a genius to an outcast in two years.

Back.

Most teams are reluctant to accept such a troublesome player, not to mention that Mario can't show any convincing performance. At this moment, French Ligue club Nice extended an olive branch to him. Balotelli went to France and put on another red and black striped jersey.

Balotelli, who has joined Nice, has moved away from the noisy English media and worldly distractions to pick up his shooting boots and do his striker job. Mario has an excellent performance of 7 goals in 9 games. Although the competitiveness of French Ligue is relatively weak, it still shows that he is regaining the feeling of shooting. Mario has made progress through his diligence, and his performance has became better and better. It has convinced his supporters that Super Mario might be coming back.

Now in France, the big boy who once refused to grow up, even self-destructive, is rebirth from Nirvana, and he is also treating his career with a more diligent attitude. So we have reason to believe that he is on the right path. This path will help him to succeed.

Resourses:

https://tv.ghanasoccernet.com/feature-the-shocking-and-sad-life-story-of-mario-balotelli

https://www.theguardian.com/football/2011/oct/24/mario-balotelli-face-of-fireworks-safety

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mario_Balotelli