Balotelli, who is only 20 years old, has just won the European Golden Boy Award. In the words of fans, Balotelli is the standard "world-class below the neck and a Husky above the neck."

It is really a miracle that Balotelli can exist in football.

There are so many jokes about Bashen that one can't finish talking about them all day long.

The most famous ones include "Thinking about life alone", "Why always me", and the time when he was in Inter Milan and sang the "AC Milan team song" in the locker room before the Champions League final. As a result, he was beaten up by Inter Milan boss Materazzi and couldn't make a sound.

Do you think Balotelli would be quiet? No, the next day, Balotelli participated in a football talk show, and the host jokingly took out an AC Milan No. 45 jersey. As a result, Balotelli happily put on the AC Milan jersey in front of millions of Inter Milan fans - Inter Milan fans were all furious.

He also told Pique during the European Cup final that he would invite Pique's girlfriend Shakira to watch the game so that Shakira could see what he did to her boyfriend.

There was also the time when he was at Manchester City and celebrated his victory by setting off fireworks in the bathroom before a game against Manchester United, and ended up burning down his house - but although he didn't sleep all night, he did win the game.

There was also a time when he was driving with a large amount of cash and was stopped by British police and asked why he was carrying so much cash. Balotelli thought about it and then answered very seriously: Because, I can.

Balotelli also seriously claimed that he is the strongest player in the world besides Messi.

There are simply too many things like this.

He wasn't joking, he really meant it.

Balotelli is born with a simple mind, and his way of thinking is more like that of a child who has not grown up.

He was abandoned by his parents when he was young and was adopted by a wealthy white family in Italy. Although he showed extraordinary football talent at a very young age, he still couldn't tie his shoelaces or wear a pullover until he was 20 years old.

He has a cousin who serves as his assistant, who takes care of everything from dressing to tying his shoelaces.

At the beginning, the bigwigs in the Manchester City locker room thought that Balotelli was deliberately acting like a big shot, and they disliked Balotelli very much.

But later, as their understanding grew, the big guys realized that Balotelli was really a weirdo who only developed his body but not his brain.

Although Balotelli is always involved in various memes, it is undeniable that he is indeed a world-class talented football player.

As early as 2001, Balotelli, who was only 11 years old, joined Brescia Club and soon showed his extraordinary talent, which attracted the attention of many European giants' youth training scouts, especially Barcelona. During the Barcelona youth team trial, Balotelli scored 8 goals in 3 games, and his superb frontcourt dominance shocked the Barcelona inspection team.

But unfortunately, Balotelli's agent asked for too high a price, and Balotelli eventually missed the chance to join Barcelona.

However, Inter Milan seized the opportunity and signed Balotelli to the Inter Milan youth team with an over-the-top professional contract.

On December 17, 2007, in the match between Inter Milan and Cagliari, Balotelli made his Nerazzurri debut. His stunning performance quickly conquered the entire Nerazzurri world. The super star produced by their own youth training made Inter Milan fans proud. "Super Mario" was the loud shout in the Meazza Stadium.

But Balotelli is not a naturally content player.

Balotelli regards Mancini, his coach during his Inter Milan period, as his mentor and father.

Although he always quarrels with his father, only former legendary stars like Mancini can control him in the locker room.

Apart from Mancini, even the madman Mourinho can't do it.

In 2009, at halftime of Inter Milan's away challenge to Rubin Kazan in the Champions League group stage, Mourinho, Inter Milan's treble-winning coach at the time, gave various instructions to Balotelli, who had already received a yellow card in the first half. There were only 15 minutes of halftime break, and Mourinho gave all 15 minutes to Balotelli. Mourinho spent only 1 minute explaining the tactics to Balotelli, including telling Balotelli which direction the opposing goal would be in the second half and which direction his own goal would be so as not to make a mistake - the remaining 14 minutes were spent talking to Balotelli, telling him not to be irritated by the experienced opponent and cause non-combat casualties to the team.

Mourinho said earnestly at the time: "Mario, don't be impulsive! It doesn't matter if we lose the ball, we can kick it back. If someone provokes you, don't react at all. If the referee makes a wrong decision, don't react at all. Don't let your emotions control you. Don't get a card! Don't get a card!"

The only person who could make Mourinho, the head coach who has received the most cards in history, say such a thing is Balotelli.

So, less than 3 minutes after Balotelli came on the pitch, he received his second yellow card and was sent off, which was even shorter than the time Mourinho had for his heart-to-heart talk with him.

Mourinho was pissed off...

In a later interview, Mourinho said that I could even write a 200-page book about my story with Balotelli at Inter.

Now, this football superstar has come under the command of his former mentor Mancini. In the first half of the season at Manchester City, Balotelli has brought his strength to the peak and led Manchester City to temporarily rank second in the Premier League standings.

Balotelli has many shortcomings and flaws off the field, but in the field of football, Balotelli has almost no obvious weaknesses.

In the first half of Manchester City's season, under Mancini's leadership, such thoughts about life and temper tantrums on the court almost never occurred.

Balotelli should have been world-class, and with his strength, he should have been able to share the world with Messi and Ronaldo, but after two years at the peak of Manchester City, especially after Mancini left, Balotelli's decline became unstoppable.

In the end, it was his emotions that ruined him.

Even if Balotelli's talent is not as high as Messi's, it is definitely higher than Ronaldo's. However, he does not even have one tenth of Ronaldo's self-discipline and hard work. Therefore, Messi is Messi, Ronaldo is Ronaldo, and Balotelli is just Balotelli.

But it is undeniable that even if he can never reach the same heights as Messi and Ronaldo, he is still a world-class star, a star with almost no weaknesses in football ability.

Balotelli is also a jack of all trades player. He is only 20 years old, 189cm tall, 88kg in weight, with muscles all over his body. He is very confrontational, a master of shooting, stopping the ball, protecting the ball, and passing. He can almost perfectly play any position in the midfield or frontcourt.

His way of playing is different from normal people's thinking, so it is full of imagination.

When other forwards use push shots facing the goalkeeper, Balotelli likes to add some difficulty by shooting with his foot or with his heel.

His sense of goal, positioning, and insertions from the back are all done without any thought, purely out of talent.

Other forwards would be able to become world-class stars if they had just one of these talents, but Balotelli has all of them.

In fact, originally, head coach Mancini wanted Balotelli to be on the bench, so that Balotelli could have a rest.

However, considering that Balotelli does not like to sit on the bench and only likes to start, and this game is a relatively important knockout match, Mancini let Balotelli start.

Such an opportunity to take something by force cannot be missed.

As soon as Gu Ran met Balotelli, he immediately started the "Forced Seizure" move and took Balotelli's "Top Pass and Shot: Interlude +1".

Balotelli's whole body trembled slightly, and then he met Gu Ran's gaze. Balotelli frowned slightly, with an expression of "what are you looking at" on his face.

Gu Ran responded with an expression that said "what are you looking at?"

-One of Southampton's defensive strategies today was to irritate Balotelli in order to limit the performance of Manchester City's sharpest spear.

Manchester City's left forward, or left inside forward, is Spanish international David Silva, No. 21.

David Silva is only 25 years old this year, 170cm tall and weighs 67kg. He is also a typical technically small and agile player.

When talking about David Silva, we have to mention the 2005 World Youth Championship, which was also the World Youth Championship that Messi participated in. In the best team selected after the tournament, David Silva was not even included in the best midfield team.

The person who defeated David Silva and entered the 2005 World Youth Championship as the best midfielder was the Chinese player Chen Tao.

Back then, Chen Tao had comprehensive skills, outstanding awareness, and skillful footwork. He was truly the leader of China's super platinum generation.

At that time, countless Chinese football fans fantasized about the 05 Super Platinum Generation growing up to become national team players and dominating Asia.

pity……

Not to mention dominating Asia, it’s not even considered a third-tier country.

The super platinum players of Chen Tao's generation were cheated by the domestic players and nothing was left, while David Silva, who was originally not as good as Chen Tao, took one step at a time and gradually grew into a world-class star.

David Silva's confrontation ability is not high, but his crossing, creativity, organizational ability, footwork, etc. are definitely world-class.

What is most admirable is that although David Silva's height and weight are not suitable for high-intensity confrontations, as a midfielder/left winger, his performance on the defensive end is also very eye-catching. His average steals and clearances per game are among the best in the entire Premier League.

Therefore, we should never underestimate David Silva's ability and role in counter-attacking just because he is only 1.70 cm tall.

...(End of this chapter)