It has been an explosive few days for Mario Balotelli. But that’s essentially the norm for the precocious Manchester City forward. In the early hours of Saturday morning, fire crews were called as the 21-year-old Italian had to escape from his home when it was set ablaze from fireworks set off in a bathroom.
The next day, he scored two goals in Manchester City’s historic 6-1 thrashing of Manchester United, revealing a T-shirt underneath his jersey that read, “Why Always Me?” This is the same player who was busted for throwing darts at his club’s youth players as a prank, has been known to give away wads of cash to homeless people — he had 5,000 pounds in his pocket on the scene where he crashed his Audi A8 two weeks after joining the team in August 2010.
Ahead of Guy Fawkes Night in England, also known as Bonfire Night, Balotelli has become a spokesman for Manchester’s Treacle campaign, which seeks to inform people about how to use fireworks safely.
“It is important children should not mess with fireworks,” Balotelli said. “They can be very dangerous if they are not used in the right way.”
– Craig Stouffer
