Mario Balotelli. Those two words have the ability to haunt even the fans of the teams he plays for. Balotelli is the much-maligned, but very skilled, striker for Manchester City. If not for his abilities with a soccer ball, he would have been looking for other work a long time ago. On multiple occasions, he has made a fool of himself but has failed to realize that he comes off as a disgrace to the game.
Balotelli’s on- and off-field antics have become well known; from telling a police officer that he was carrying excess cash because he is rich to having trouble putting a practice bib on to upsetting his teammates and coach when he decides to be fancy on the pitch. Balotelli brought his antics to America last summer when, during the World Football Challenge, City was playing the Los Angeles Galaxy. Balotelli was played through and had a teammate accompany him into the box, but instead he did a fancy spin backheel that went wide. The crowd booed and manager Roberto Manicini immediately took Balotelli out of the game. To make matters worse, Balotelli came to the bench, talked back to his manager, and walked away unapologetically.
Most recently, Balotelli entered City’s match against Tottenham as a substitute and almost immediately created controversy. He received a yellow card for an early tussle with Scott Parker, and then in the last 10 minutes of the match, he took a shot with Parker sliding in. The first foot landed and hit Parker, but that could be dismissed as an accident. The second foot came down and the video shows that Balotelli stomped on Parker’s face, as seen here. Referee Howard Webb seemed to have been right there, but made no call. Even in the instance that Balotelli did not have a prior yellow, this could have been a straight red. But no call was made and Balotelli remained in the game. Then in the waning moments, Balotelli drew a penalty kick and converted for the winner in a 3-2 thriller.
The Football Association reviewed the video and has suspended the Italian for four matches. There is no question that something needed to be done, but given that he stayed in the game and had such an impact on the final outcome, a four game suspension seems inconsequential.
The real problem here is that the Balotelli’s of the world keep getting playing time and attention. At some point, Mancini is going to be forced to decide if he wants to keep playing with fire and risk the antics for the small return of Balotelli’s talent, or save his team and cut ties with the troublesome player. It already happened when the striker played for Inter Milan, and I am sure an ultimatum is going to arise for City.
Soccer is known as the beautiful game, but this notion has been muddied by players embellishing and diving, accusations of racism, fan riots, and awful officiating. Some of these are an easy fix, and some are not. Mario Balotelli is someone who cannot be controlled behaviorally but if no one gives him a chance to play, only then can he learn to respect the game. Until then, any time he steps on the pitch, we will continue to say to ourselves, “Uh oh, Mario.”
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