Dark side of Super Mario’s world
Tuesday, January 24, 2012
MARIO BALOTELLI gave a whole new meaning to the term impact sub at Etihad Stadium on Sunday.
Things are never dull when Mario is around but his influence on Manchester City’s 3-2 win over Spurs could hardly have been more explosive if he’d stashed some of his fireworks in the opposition dugout.
A little over 25 minutes was all it took for Balotelli to leave his imprint on both the title race and Scott Parker, first incurring a yellow card for a tackle which even Paul Scholes would have deemed late, then putting the back of his boot into Parker’s head and, for that moment at least, getting away with it. He then kept his cool on the hottest spot on the pitch to put away the penalty which derailed Spurs’ comeback and left City in the driving seat at the top of the league.
There in microcosm, was the good, the bad and the ugly of Balotelli. Short of observing that, as they say, he’s an interesting bunch of guys, I’ll leave it to the pop psychologists to plumb the depths of his soul. The ‘why’ is interesting, of course, but the ‘what’ is of most immediate concern.
As the points on the board confirm, Balotelli’s unerring spot-kick was the decisive intervention in a match of see-sawing drama but his boot’s contact with the head of Parker was, potentially, the game-changing moment. Potentially because, had referee Howard Webb seen what, admittedly with the benefit of replay, most people are convinced they saw â€" a deliberate back-heel kick to the Spurs man’s head â€" then Balotelli would not have been around to take that penalty. Down to 10, City would have done exceedingly well to curb, never mind overcome, Spurs’ spirited fightback.
The FA have charged Balotelli with violent conduct and unless he appeals using the elastic definition of ‘beyond reasonable doubt’, it’s hard to see how the player won’t incur a hefty ban.
On MOTD2 on Sunday night, Lee Dixon went a little way down the charitably generous road, suggesting that, just maybe, the contact was accidental, a result of the player trying to shift his balance in midair. But Alan Hansen’s almost contemptuous view of that plea for mitigation will, you suspect, strike the more popular chord. And the official one too.
Certainly, my own interpretation is that Balotelli deliberately kicked back at Parker, as if it wasn’t enough that their initial accidental coming together had already left the Spurs man on the flat of his back. The theatrical manner in which Balotelli himself then went to ground also bespoke a man with something to hide before it became it quickly apparent that he actually had nothing to hide from the ref anyway.
While a deliberate act of aggression, I don’t think there was much malice aforethought in Balotelli’s sneaky assault. Which, in a way, only makes things worse â€" because, if true, it suggests that aiming a kick at a man’s head is something he might do as a reflex action, almost an afterthought.
Balotelli will doubtless protest his innocence but even the most lenient interpretation of his actions on Sunday still leaves us with the reality of a footballer who, for all his talent, simply can’t be trusted on the field of play. Given he’s not a first choice pick, a four-match ban might not capsize City’s title race but it certainly won’t help their cause, so it could yet be that City’s victory on Sunday will come to be regarded as a pyrrhic one, a day when the blast of the Mohican was felt for both good and ill.
The Balotelli legend is splendidly diverting at times, what with fireworks in the bathroom, battles with bibs, the odd impromptu visit to a women’s prison and, of course, that trip to a curry house in December when, according to reports, he enjoyed " a mock swordfight using rolling pins".
I can’t swear to you that the latter is true but it certainly deserves to be.
What we do know for certain â€" because there’s all the video evidence in the world to prove it â€" is that Balotelli has the talent to make playing football look easy but the kind of personality on the pitch which would suggest that, even at the best of times, he’s engaged in one of the most joyless activities in the world. It would still be just about acceptable if it wasn’t for the fact that, at the worst of times, he can seem intent on making it an equally unpleasant experience for opponents and everyone else.
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