Biography

Mario Barwuah Balotelli was born on the 12th August in 1990 and is an Italian footballer who plays as a striker for Manchester City. Balotelli is well known for his pace, technical ability, and petulant attitude.

Super Mario was born to Ghanaian immigrants Thomas and Rose Barwuah, in which the family moved Bagnolo Mella a province of Bresica (Italy).

In 93′, when Mario was 3, the Barwuah family agreed to entrust Mario to the Balotelli family. The move was successful and formalized by the Court of Brescia.

Lumezzane

Super Mario begun his career at Lumezzane, when at the tender age of 15 was promoted to the First Team, and made his Serie C1 league debut against Padova. Although he had to receive special exempation as the minimum age of a senior is 16.

Internazionale

Mario Balotelli signed for Internazionale in 2006, on a loan deal from Lumezzane with an option to purchase. Starting out in the under-17 squad then joined the Primavera under-20 team at the age of 16. His already impressive reputation increased further when he scored a tie-breaking penalty in the Primavera league final 1–0 win over Sampdoria. Receiving accolades from Massimo Moratti (Inter Chairman).

His career exploded into the limelight when he made his Inter Milan debut on 16 December 2007, when he replaced David Suazo in the 2–0 victory over Cagliari. Several days later he was named in the starting line up to face Reggina in the Coppa Itallia, in which he went on to score two goals in a 4–1 win.

His first Serie A goal came when Inter beat Atalanta 2 – 0 in April 2008. Whilst Inter Milan reached the 2008 Supercoppa Italiana final, in whom they would play against Roma. Coming on as a substitute for the Portuguese Luís Figo and going on to score in the 83rd minute, ending the game at 2 – 2 and then finally over-coming the winners 6 – 5 in penalties.

Mario in 2008 signed a 3 year contract at Inter (maximum length he could sign) with his contract expiring on August 2011.

The 2008/09 season saw Super Mario Balotelli score his first Champions League goal, in a 3–3 draw Anorthosis Famagusta, which meant he became the youngest Inter player at 18 years and 85 days to score in the Champions League.

In April 2009, Mario Balotelli appeared in the 1–1 draw with Juventus, and was racially abused by Juventus fans with chants such as “Black Italians do not exist”. Mario actually scored in this game.

The new season saw Mario hit a number of disciplinary problems, when most notably with the Inter head coach José Mourinho, who dropped him from the first team in the second half of January.

Jose said: “as far as I’m concerned, a young boy like him cannot allow himself to train less than people like Figo, Córdoba, and Zanetti.”

This was not the only incident with Jose, as earlier in the season Mourinho had accused Balotelli of showing a lack of effort in training.

Racism against Balotelli also continued as he was to be attacked with racist chants throughout the season, becoming the focus of Juventus fans even during games not involving Internazionale at all.

Manchester City

Weeks of speculation saw on 12th August 2010 Inter and Manchester City agree to the transfer fee, believed to be in the region of £24m and the following day completed a medical. The transfer allowed Mario to join his formaer coach Roberto Mancini.

Mario scored on his Europoen debut against FC Timişoara in a 1–0 away win in the Europa League, when he came on as a substitute. Although the match started well for him, he went onto injury his lateral meniscus in his right knee. Going under surgery on the on 8th September meaning he was out of match action until October.

24th of October saw Mario Balotelli make his Premier League debut as a sub in the 3 – 0 loss to Arsenal, then on his full debut they lost 2 – 1 to Wolverhampton Wanderers.

Balotelli finally scored his first Premier League goal on 7 November in a 2–0 win away to West Brom, in which he scored both the goals and was also sent of for violent conduct after a clash with Youssuf Mulumbu.

December 2010 starter well for Balotelli as he won the Golden Boy Award. Claiming that only one of the past winners was slightly better than him – Lionel Messi. He also claimed that he didn’t know who Arsenal’s Jack Wilshere was, the player he narrowly beat to the award.

Further to December being a good month, he scored his first Premier League hat-trick, in the 4–0 victory over Aston Villa.