Why Always Me? - The Biography of Mario Balotelli, City's Legendary Striker. Frank Worrall
support of Mario, who was always one of his favourites at the club, but backed Mourinho’s decision to axe him from the trip to London. ‘Mourinho made the right decision, so it means someone else did not do the right thing for the club,’ he said. ‘As I consider Balotelli to be a player of immense talent, I trust he will now prove he is a great professional and Mourinho will be very happy to field him again.’
It was becoming clear that Balotelli and Mourinho would not be able to work together – the only question on many pundits’ lips in Italy was when the break-up would come. Mario did not help his own cause – in March 2010, he made a terrible blunder when he appeared on an Italian comedy show in an AC Milan shirt. Now he had not only fallen foul of Mourinho, but also his own fans who took none too kindly at him appearing in the shirt of their most bitter rivals.
The website Yahoo Sport summed up Mario’s moment of true madness, saying, ‘As if Inter Milan teenage striker Mario Balotelli didn’t have enough problems as it is, what with all of Italy hating him and his constant spats with Jose Mourinho, wearing the shirt of his club’s most hated rival probably wasn’t the best way to solve his problems. But that’s exactly what he did on Italian comedy show Striscia la noticia after they presented him with their jokey Tapiro d’Oro award for not playing in Inter’s Champions League win over Chelsea or last weekend’s draw against Palermo.
‘After giving him the fake golden statue, they then gave Balotelli an AC Milan shirt featuring his name and number, much to the delight of the self-proclaimed Milanista. The Striscia cameras later caught Mario wearing the shirt, causing his agent to get defensive, saying he is a “boy of 19 who may not understand the consequences of what he does” and “I hope the fans understand that you cannot take a program like Striscia seriously”.’
They didn’t and Mario was now forced to make a very public apology on the Inter Milan website. It read, ‘I am sorry for the situation that has been created recently. I am the first person who has suffered because I adore football and I want to play, and now I am waiting in silence so I can return to being useful to my team. I want to put the past behind me, look to the future and concentrate on the upcoming commitments and make myself ready.’
They were words of contrition…but did Mario mean them? Maybe he did at the time, but his subsequent actions suggested he did not fully appreciate the precariousness of his situation. That any more indiscretions could see him out the door – especially if he got on the wrong side of the people who matter most at any football clubs. Yes, the fans who ultimately pay the players’ wages.
The point of no return would come in the Champions League semi-final first leg against Barcelona in Milan on April 20, 2010. Just a fortnight earlier it had seemed Mario was back on track and living up to his pledge to have turned over a new leaf – as he scored in the 3-0 win over Bologna. CNN reported on his triumphant return, saying, ‘Young striker Mario Balotelli made a goalscoring return to Inter Milan’s line-up as the Italian champions bounced back from last weekend’s defeat to maintain a one-point lead in Serie A on Saturday. The 19-year-old was welcomed back into the squad after apologising during the week following his falling-out with manager Jose Mourinho, and helped Inter stay ahead of Roma with a 3-1 victory at home to Bologna.
‘It was a successful end to a mixed week for Mourinho, who had announced his unhappiness with Italian football before Wednesday’s 1-0 win over CSKA Moscow in the first leg of the Champions League quarterfinals. Brazilian midfielder Thiago Motta put Inter ahead in the 29th minute with the first of his two goals, firing in a shot from the edge of the penalty area after controlling the ball on his chest. Balotelli marked his first outing since March 7 with the second seven minutes after halftime with a cool finish following a pass from strike partner Diego Milito.’
But on 20 April, he fell from grace spectacularly amid the euphoria of Inter’s 3-1 win over Barca at the San Siro, a vital result as they would then go on to win the Champions League. Mario had only come on as a late sub and lost his temper after Inter fans groaned when he made a mistake. At the end of the match, he took off his Inter shirt and threw it to the ground in a gesture to the fans.
They did not like it. His career with the club was now as good as over – the necessary bond between players and fans had been broken for good. There would be no way back this time. Mario Balotelli had run out of excuses at Internazionale.
Italian sports newspaper La Gazetta dello Sport explained the breach in this way, ‘The misunderstanding with the Nerazzurri fans started when Mario misplayed a counterattack: the lad, on hearing the complaints from the stands, was not impressed. And he lost his head, insulting the fans (reading his lips made that clear) during and after the match. There were also some tense moments an hour after the end of the match. The striker went down to the parking garage to get into his car and leave San Siro, but a group of fans approached him, insulting him and trying to attack him. Security personnel from the club managed to move the aggressors away so that the player could leave the stadium.’
When he most needed support, Mario now found none. Captain Zanetti led the chorus of disapproval, saying, ‘Mario needs to focus on doing what he can do on the pitch, he can’t allow himself to behave like this. He needs to be intelligent and understand that the fans, at a match like this, can be edgy.’
Inter’s managing director Ernesto Paolillo said, ‘Balotelli’s gesture? Appalling, absolutely appalling. It is something that will need to be discussed.’ Then, when the Press pack asked if it would lead to disciplinary action, he barked, ‘Absolutely.’
Italian footballing legend Roberto Baggio added to the discussion, saying, ‘Balotelli is a great talent, but he needs to change his attitude. Behaving like this does not make him many friends.’
But it was Mourinho who would hammer in the final nail on Mario’s coffin as he told RAI, ‘I saw an ugly thing. I have been at Inter since July 2009. I remember thousands of pieces of “advice” I got from lots of luminaries in Italy because I wanted to try to educate a talented player. Today in an important showcase like a Champions League semi-final, with the eyes of the world watching, an ugly thing happened.’
It was the end of the road for Mario at Inter: he had burned all his bridges and run out of road. The only thing to be decided now was when he would go and where he would go.
That would soon be answered when Mancini came to his rescue; effectively saving his career and, as history will probably show, saving himself from himself. The only surprise was that he would last longer than his arch enemy Mourinho at the San Siro. Mourinho would become Real Madrid manager on 31 May, 2010 – just days after taking Inter to that wonderful Champions League triumph at Real’s Bernabeu home – while Mario would leave Inter and join Manchester City nine weeks later, on Friday 13 August, 2010.
Friday the 13th…unlucky for some, but not for Mario Balotelli. The boy was about to link up again with his favourite footballing person on the planet – Mancini. Now let’s take a closer look at Roberto and his career – and how he crossed paths with Mario, and decided he would take him under his wing and become known as his ‘surrogate footballing father’.
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