Power Ranking the Top 10 Mad Moments of Mario Balotelli

Mario Balotelli seems to bring a hint of madness with him wherever he goes. Since his move to Manchester City, where the depth and details of his antics garnered more public and press attention, Balotelli has treated us to some absolute crackers.

Here is a ranking of the top 10 mad moments of Mario Balotelli.

10. Mario Mania

Even when Mario Balotelli isn’t out gracing the world with his insane ways, the rumour mill produces more Super Mario stunners.

Despite Balotelli not actually going round Manchester dressed as Santa Claus handing out £20 notes to lucky shoppers (though Roberto Mancini’s evasive post-match press conference seems to suggest otherwise), the fact that this became news within minutes shows that Britain has its own version of “Tebowmania”—“Mariomania”.

Everyone wants to find out the latest of his incredible antics, even if they are utterly fabricated. As one of the tweets in the article says, “If you told me Balotelli was riding an elephant through Stockport, throwing tins of cat food at OAP’s, I’d believe you”.

As Mancini said, "With Mario anything is possible".

9. Mario Balotelli vs Micah Richards

The latest in a series of Mario Balotelli training pitch brawls so far in his short time at City (this being his fourth), this time Mario was confronted by right back Micah Richards for supposedly “not running hard enough”.

Competitiveness and passion are important parts of a professional footballers psyche, but so is self control—a trait Super Mario seems to utterly lack.

8. Mario Balotelli vs… a Training Bib?!

As it turns out, nothing perplexes Mario more than the simple training bib.

This is a man who is legally allowed to drive a car proving himself to be incapable of putting on a piece of fabric with four holes in it, even with assistance. Now, not trying to show off or anything, but I mastered the training bib at about the age of five.

Was the anger inspired by this struggle the root cause behind the foul which led to Balotelli’s sending off later in the match?

7. Super Mario Waves Away Suspicion over a Wad of Cash

Remember I said Balotelli could legally drive a car? Maybe this proves that he shouldn’t. After totalling his custom-outfitted Audi R8 supercar, Mario went through a series of standard police tests after such a crash.

While he passed them all, questions were asked as to why Mario Balotelli had £5,000 in his back pocket. Casually, Balotelli replied “Because I am rich”.

This came shortly after giving £1,000 of a £25,000 gambling windfall to a random tramp he saw in Manchester.

6. Balotelli Sorts out a School Bully

This heart-warming Balotelli tale starts with a boy playing truant from school, and going to Manchester City’s training ground to try and get an autograph from Balotelli.

Instead of just nonchalantly signing the paper thrust in his face as many modern footballers do, Balotelli didn’t follow this typical line (when does he ever?).

After asking the boy why he was not at school, Balotelli was told that the boy was being bullied. Mario took the child and his mother back to this boy’s school, where he confronted the bully and took the two to the school’s headmaster, where he proceeded to act as a mediator for the two.

A City source said, “Mario feels strongly about bullying and thinks it's out of order. He had no qualms about sorting the mess out as he felt the lad should not be missing out on school.”

The Mad Maverick seems to have something of a moral code, at least when it comes to bullying.

5. The ‘Shoulder Volley’

The fact that this is the first goal on a list about a striker is testament to what Mario Balotelli manages to get up to off the pitch.

Described as cheeky and inventive by some, disrespectful to his opposition by others, the reaction to the goal shows just how divisive everything Balotelli does can become.

After all, why just use your feet or head when you can score just as well with your shoulder?

4. The Back Heel That Went Wide

In a preseason friendly tournament, Balotelli decided to spurn a scoring chance and try to back heel the ball into the goal.

Manager Roberto Mancini was so incensed by this attempt at goal that Balotelli was promptly substituted.

Rather than increasing the score to 2-0 Balotelli instead provides us with one of soccer's all time bloopers.

3. The ‘Why Always Me?’ Celebration

After scoring in Manchester City’s 6-1 rout of cross-city rivals Manchester United, Mario Balotelli revealed a shirt with the words ‘Why Always Me?’ printed on it.

This, as does all events where the shirt is removed, caused Balotelli to receive a yellow card in a crucial match against City's fiercest rivals.

Mario, maybe you should take a look at this list, it might give you some ideas as to why it’s always you.

2. Throwing Darts at Youth Team Players

This somewhat destroys my argument about Balotelli having a moral code.

For the simple reason that he was “bored”, Balotelli proceeded to throw darts from a window at Manchester City’s youth team players.

Not only is this mad, but it’s outright dangerous and borderline criminal. Luckily no one was hurt by this escapade.

1. Setting His Own House on Fire

Balotelli had a few friends round and, as you do, they chose to entertain themselves by launching fireworks from his bathroom window. This caused a towel to catch fire, and soon the fire had spread to the entire house.

Balotelli now has to live in a hotel (presumably, with a strict no fireworks policy) after his house was burnt down.

Once again, no one was hurt, but someone needs to curb this mad behaviour before someone is.