Balotelli’s challenge

Wednesday, 02/11/2011

As a Manchester United fan I should absolutely detest Mario Balotelli.

He plays for our noisy neighbours, he was instrumental in Manchester City’s recent humiliation of the Red Devils at Old Trafford and in many ways he seems to embody everything wrong with modern day football.

But, there is something captivating about the young Italian that makes me look forward to what he’s going to do next, both on and off the pitch.

There is no doubting the 21-year-old’s footballing ability. With his pace, skill, outrageous trickery and the ability to score both simple goals and a penchant for the spectacular, Balotelli is box office when he’s on form.

He has the potential to be one of the world’s best players and under the tutelage of Roberto Mancini - a man who may be the only manager able to understand and work with the troubled youngster - he is beginning to make strides to reaching that level.

In many ways he is reminiscent of a young Cristiano Ronaldo in his first two seasons in the Premier League. The Portugal winger was never as controversial as Mario off the pitch, but he certainly raised a few eyebrows on it, with his hypnotising step-overs, flashy feet and frustratingly inconsistent end product. It took Ronaldo about three seasons to mature and transform his displays into those of a genuine match-winner, and it might well take Balotelli just as long.

At the moment, Mario is making as many headlines for his antics off the field. Whether it is fireworks being set off in his house, driving around Manchester city centre high-fiving Blues fans or transforming his garden into a quad bike track, each story makes you smile. But, to be a top, top player he needs to cut out those controversial stories and find the focus to dedicate himself to his profession.

He can continue to be an entertainer on the field, with tricks, flicks, spectacular shooting and calm finishing accompanied by such original celebrations and it’s his ability to do the unexpected that makes him so hard to defend against. He now seems to be settling into life in England and, ironically, the poor behaviour of former club captain Carlos Tevez has given the moody Italian a chance to settle and shine.

Too many times in the past, Balotelli has played with real anger in his game and his body language has portrayed a man at war with himself and his manager. Football fans will remember him making a muddle of putting a bib on last season and that summed up the frustrations of his early career in England.

But now, the former Inter Milan man is playing with a real calmness, born out of the huge confidence he possesses in his own ability. That calmness was on show in the recent Manchester derby, a game that was surely a turning point in Mario’s career.

The man himself is well aware of the controversy that surrounds him and if his ‘Why always me?’ celebration is anything to go by; he is beginning to relish it.

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