The 20 Most Ridiculous Things Nutty Italian Soccer Phenom Mario Balotelli Has Ever Done

Manchester City coach Roberto Mancini has a rule that players can't go out on the town in the 48 hours before a game.

Balotelli violated that rule by hitting a Liverpool-area strip club at 2 a.m. on the Thursday night before a Saturday game.

He could now face a maximum fine of $396,000 for violating the rule.

Source: The Sun

His girlfriend is Italian model Raffaella Fico — who allegedly attended many of Silvio Berlusconi's bunga-bunga parties.

After he was caught at the strip club last weekend, she told the Daily Mail, "For me, he can go to a strip club, if he does nothing wrong, with friends, but I have to say that the end always comes back to me because I am his favorite."

Source: Telegraph

He also meandered around the school with some friends for 20 minutes, then left in his Bentley.

Source: Manchester Evening News

The night before a game against Manchester United, Balotelli and his friend took some rolling pins from a curry house and had a sword fight with them.

Less than 12 hours later, he scored two goals in a 6-1 rout of Man U.

Source: The Telegraph

Balotelli was somehow not red-carded for this stop on Tottenham player Scott Parker.

But he did receive a four-match ban.

After scoring the opening goal against Manchester United, Mario pulled up his jersey to reveal a shirt that said, "WHY ALWAYS ME?"

It's unclear what that refers to, or why Balotelli chose to wear it. But it pretty comprehensively captures the essence of one of the world's craziest (and most gifted) athletes.

Mario and four of his buddies were setting off fireworks last fall when one hit a bath towel and caught fire.

The fire department came at around 1 a.m., and Balotelli had to stay in a hotel on the night before a huge game against Manchester United.

Afterward, he insanely became a fireworks safety spokesman for the City of Manchester.

Source: The Guardian

He came home from the club’s U.S. tour and found a bag of two-week old herring rotting in his $250,000 Maserati.

He's known for pranking his teammates, and it appears someone got him back in a gross way.

Mario had a wide-open goal in a preseason game against the L.A. Galaxy.

But instead of kicking it in, he tried to do a twirling backheel and missed.

His coach was enraged, and pulled him out of the game on the spot.

See the video here.

Balotelli became a YouTube hit in the States when he tried and failed for over a minute to put on a bib before warming up in a Europa League game.

Eventually, a Man City employee gave him some help, and he was able to get the thing on.

See video here.

A youngster asked Balotelli for his autograph after practice one day. When Mario asked him why he wasn't in school, the kid said he was being picked on.

So he drove the boy and his mother to school and gave the bully a talking to. He also met to the headmaster to discuss the issue.

Source: Metro UK

He was feeling good after winning five-figures at a Manchester-area casino.

So he generously gave $1,000 to a homeless guy he saw when he left.

Source: The Sun

The officer asked him why he had so much loose cash sitting on the seat.

"Because I can," he told him.

That's about all you need to know.

Source: Daily Mail

Favored Man City were eliminated from the Europa League by Kiev last season.

In the second leg of the clash, Balotelli carelessly flew in to a tackle like a ninja and spiked a Kiev player in the midsection.

City lost 2-1 on aggregate.

See the video here.

Balotelli is apparently allergic to some kinds of grass, which is problematic if you're a soccer player.

Said his coach after the game, "I came out a minute before the players and I didn't see Mario. He then said he could play but his face was swollen."

Mario was substituted ten minutes into the second half.

Source: Yahoo!

Mario was caught throwing darts in the direction of youth team players after practice one day.

Afterward, he said he did it because he was "bored."

He was fined $100,000 for the incident.

Source: Yahoo!

What do you do when you don't like a tackle your teammate makes in practice?

Fight him.

Balotelli got in a bust-up with defender Jerome Boateng last winter.

Source: Yahoo!

Balotelli didn't pay attention to the parking rules when he moved to Manchester.

As a result, he accumulated five-figures worth of parking fines and had his white Maserati locked up dozens of times.

Source: Daily Mail

Add together the penalties for throwing darts, showing up late, getting in fights, and drawing red cards, and you get a pretty penny.

Luckily Balotelli makes $100,000 a week, so he's still doing okay.

Source: The Sun

He and his brother felt like checking out a women's prison, so they drove right in.

It turns out you can't do that, and police stopped them at the gates.

After, Mario told Italian TV, "I told my brother: 'Do you want to see a prison? Then I went in." 

Source: Yahoo!

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