I was watching jazz propaganda Treme last night and missed most of the Inter-Barcelona match. I did, however, tune-in in time to catch the latest instalment in the psychodrama that is Mario Balotelli’s professional sports career.
After being whistled and jeered by his own supporters for a couple of errant passes and shots, a raging Balotelli made a pretty clear showing of his pride for the Inter jersey after the final whistle.
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=f4_S5Nl-E2I[/youtube]
My Italian is poor, but I understood the commentators 'Incred-e-blay' and 'no no no'.
The real drama, though, happened in the player’s tunnel when head-butt victim Marco Matterazi attacked Balotelli. Inter cast-off Zlatan Ibrahimovic saw it all and told Sky Sports:
"I saw that Materazzi was attacking him in the players' tunnel and I've never seen anything like it," Ibrahimovic told RAI.
"If I were him, I'd have left Mario alone, but Materazzi was attacking him and I was stunned. If Materazzi had attacked me like that, I would've decked him in a second!
"Materazzi was causing all sorts of trouble and in the Barcelona locker room we were amazed, all talking about it. A player should be proud after a win, not chase down a 19-year-old to berate him."
Not that Baloteli’s Inter team-mates offered much sympathy:
"What do I think of Balotelli, how much time have you got? You need to see what is in his head, he's like a child," Dejan Stankovic told Sky Sports.
There was even a strange fracas outside of Balotelli’s car in the San Siro car park (something seemed to have just happened after the camera jump at.07 as MB appoaches his car).
[youtube]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=DkIxdbJLhTw[/youtube]
Jose Mourinho say Balotelli will play this weekend for Inter this weekend. For a bit of perspective on the complexities of Balotelli-hating, here's a recent Gabriele Maroitti piece
