Mario Balotelli, the perennial bad boy of world football, delighted his 6.4 million followers on Instagram with a video in which he mocks his previous meltdowns by throwing a fit after missing a free-kick in training.
While all was good after the first free-kick bent into the top corner, the moment the second missed the mark, the Italian frontman started to spew profanities (which were beeped out) and throw his gloves on the pitch, to send his teammates into peals of laughter.
Never a stranger from controversy, the 27-year-old Balotelli has been in prolific form of late as he has 19 goals from 25 appearances (all competitions) for OGC Nice this season.
The former Inter Milan, Manchester City, Liverpool and AC Milan forward has dominated the back pages for mostly his antics on and off the pitch, but a move to the Ligue 1 seems to have calmed the volatile Italian down.
‘Super Mario’s’ rows with Portuguese manager Jose Mourinho, when the duo was at Inter, are stuff of legend as is the story of how and why he burned down his house in Manchester when plying his trade for the Sky Blues made him a target of the media and opposition fans during his time in the Premier League.
Currently in international exile, Balotelli’s form for Nice has been too good to ignore and there’s a strong possibility that if he can keep banging in the goals, then he will be a contender to make the Italy squad for their Euro 2020 qualifiers.
A post shared by Mario Balotelli (@mb459) on
His career had appeared to be in the doldrums after underwhelming stints with Liverpool and Milan (on loan from the Reds), but a move to Nice in 2016 has seen him rediscover his scoring touch and credit must be given to the man himself.