A Hero, a Villain, and a Barcelona Blunder

Arrogant, crazy, strange , hard to handle, he may own all theses tags, but there’s another part of Mario Balotelli’s life which is left mostly unexplored by the media. He’s had to go through some phases in his life which would make even a Hollywood star behave strangely.

So here’s a look at Mario’s life story.

His first obstacle came when he was an infant, in the form of a intestine complications which were life threatening. Mario’s biological parents who were not able to meet his expenses, and had to give him up for adoption at the age of two. The second stage of Mario’s life started then onwards, with his adoptive parents giving him the “Ballotelli” name. Mario grew up in his foster home with Francesco and Silvia Balotelli, his foster parents whom he calls Angels .

Mario’s football career started at lower league Italian side, Lummezzane. His football dreams took a big hit when he was rejected by Spanish giants Barcelona but Balotelli proved that Barca had made a wrong decision by going on to join Inter Milan in Italy where he flourished under Roberto Mancini, who still is considered the only manger who can ‘tame’ Mario. His fame and money brought back his biological parents to his life after all those years, but Mario wasn’t ready to give up his angels.

He accused his blood parents, stating that all they needed was his money, and he still stands his ground. While he earns wages over 100k every week, his biological mother works as a cleaner to earn her bread. Some say its cruel of the millionaire son to allow his mother to live in such a mess while Mario thinks otherwise.

After his family problems, Super Mario’s football career floundered again when Mourinho came into Inter Milan. His failure to go hand in hand with the Special One led to his departure from Inter. Mourinho hit out publicly at Balotelli, by tagging him “impossible to manage”.

“The problem is because of his age, he can make some mistakes. He’s Mario. He’s crazy – but I love him because he’s a good guy.” Mancini replied to Mourinho and took Mario into the blue side of Manchester. Balotelli became both hero and villain for Manchester City. At times, the star’s agent told the world that Mario was worth 200 million Euros and he proved his worth with an explosive performance in the Euros, which was soured experience with him being subjected to racism by Croatian fans.

Despite his controversies on and off the field, Mario also has been in the news for good reasons: he once donated a significant amount of money to a church, and rumours are rife about him donating a hefty amount of his money to help children in Africa. He has won 3 Italian Serie A competitions, one Premier League, one FA cup and one Champions League atthe age of 21.

And still Balotelli is the most trolled football player in recent times .

To the media who only see his negative side, Balotelli recently said:

“I am a naturalized Italian, but I’m from Ghana. I was abandoned by my parents when I was child and adopted by two angels. I suffer with racism everyday. I am the first black to wear an Italian shirt. I’m not angry, but my life experiences make me act differently from other people. Then, try to learn more about me before you criticize me. I feel Italian, only Italian, I love Italy and I will play only with an Italian shirt”

The press should also look into his past and say “well, I am not surprised he’s strange”, but with several years in front of him, Balotelli may turn out to be the worst blunder made by Barcelona.