Super or stupid Mario

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Starting his footballing career on the mean streets of Italy at a time when the colour of your skin determined whether you get a game, not your skill, was another Mario who in a few years would earn the nickname of the video game world’s most famous superhero. Mario Balotelli a.k.a Super Mario’s skill didn’t go unnoticed by A.C. Lumezzane, an Italian Lega Pro Prima Divisione (erstwhile Serie C1) based in Lombardy where after only 2 first team games, he went on an unsuccessful trial at Barcelona before eventually being spotted by then Inter Milan boss Roberto Mancini in 2007.

Both manager and player have since moved to the cash rich outfit of Manchester City. While Mancini’s calm demeanour and cool headedness has followed him, Balotelli’s skill has followed his reputation of flirting with the borderline mental.

Balotelli’s antics shadow his obvious talent. Throwing darts at youth team players, wearing a Milan shirt while playing for Inter, starting fireworks in his own house (after which he was made Manchester’s ambassador of fire safety, god bless the English) and the latest — a controversial stamp on Scott Parker’s melon — makes you wonder whether Thomas Gravesen is the Pope in disguise.

There’s no room for what Balotelli did to Scott Parker. A four-game ban is the least he deserves for his stomp, but is there a footballer that can be mentioned in the same breath as Cristiano Ronaldo or Lionel Messi beyond the madness?

Two strikes gives his case plenty of justice. The first with United and City locked at 0-0 at Old Trafford, where the champions have recently demolished Arsenal and not lost a game for over a year, Balotelli, coolness personified, passes James Milner’s cutback beyond de Gea.

The second was the recent winner against Spurs, which, truth be told, should never have been because he didn’t deserve to be on the pitch. But to take a penalty for the 3rd time in your career against the same keeper, in the last 30 seconds of extra-time and not blink once… you are coolness personified!
Football needs characters like Mario as long as the line isn’t crossed. As far as the talent goes — the boy deserves his nickname — he is fast, athletic and he can score!