Here comes trouble: Inter Milan's brave Balotelli is waiting in the draw

18 December 2009 17:49
Mario Balotelli exists. It might seem superfluous to state that, but there are people inItaly, notably Juventus fans, who suggest otherwise. The fact that Balotelli was born in Palermo and has lived in the country all his 19 years and four months is meaninglessto those who started and continue to chant: 'A black Italian does not exist.'[LNB]Italian football, once again, has a bloody nose. Less than six months before its defence of the World Cup, it is not only Silvio Berlusconi, prime minister and owner of AC Milan, who is bleeding. [LNB] Super Mario: Balotelli takes on Rubin Kazan's Christian Noboa [LNB]This week former Juventus chief executive Antonio Giraudo was given athree-year jail sentence for his part in the 2006 match-fixing scandal,Jose Mourinho is embroiledin an acidic row with sports journaliststhere, while Mourinho's most striking young talent at Inter Milan,Balotelli, is considering his future in Serie A due to a culture ofracism so entrenched that Juve fans can sing what they wish and receive meagre punishment.[LNB]England is an obvious alternative for Balotelli, although his brother-agent has said 'not in January'. But today's Champions League draw could bring the teenager to thePremier League in February.[LNB]Balotelli was in Manchester with Inter for the last 16 last season and played 70 minutes at Old Trafford but the noise surrounding the muscular 6ft 2in forward has since been cranked up. Much of it is unpleasant.[LNB]'Sometimes I just want to say leave me in peace and let me live my life,' a world-weary Balotelli said last week. 'Sometimes you just get bored with all the negative headlines. You cannot read bad press about yourself and negative things every day.'[LNB]From being late for training, to being dropped for being late for training, to taunting opponents and opposition fans and arguing with older colleagues, Balotelli is regarded in Italy as something like a cross between Wayne Rooney and El Hadji Diouf. He has the ability of the former, the popularity of the latter.[LNB]Even anti-racism campaigners in Italy acknowledge that Balotelli's case is complicated. 'It's difficult,' said Daniella Conti of Rome-based group UISP.[LNB] Show of support: Inter fans back their man[LNB]'Of course we condemn every episode of racism and we think it's unbelievable that you still hear monkey chants and songs, but Mario Balotelli's attitude on the pitch is not so correct. [LNB]'He's very aggressive, he is rude to other players, he is seen in Italy as 'a bad man' who does not know fair play. The racists use his blackness. [LNB]'But he is also an important symbol of a changing society, the first real black Italian footballer.'[LNB]Berlusconi, among others, could contest that last description. A new law states that to be considered a full Italian, your parents must also be Italian. So even though Balotelli was born and bred in the country, many see him as 'not one of us'. [LNB]A difficulty for them, though, is that as of August last year, Balotelli's passport says he is one of them. He was granted citizenship on his 18th birthday his legal right and could well make Marcello Lippi's squad bound for South Africa.[LNB] World Cup star? Will Balotelli light up South Africa?[LNB]Balotelli was born in Palermo in 1990, the son of Ghanaian immigrants, Thomas and Rose Barwuah. After the family moved north to Brescia two years later, they agreed to have their son adopted by a local family, the Balotellis.[LNB]The skill that was on show last week in Inter's vital Champions League win over FC Rubin Kazan a virtuoso Balotelli backheel set up a goal for Samuel Eto'o and a30-yard Balotelli free-kick later screeched in became evident early.[LNB]During his early teens he joined local club Lumezzane in Italy's third division and made his debut as a 15-year-old against Padova. Inter were not long in taking him to Milan.[LNB]Italy's under-age managers started looking, too. However, there was still the issue of his official nationality. There was also allegedly a discrepancy in his adoption papers.[LNB]But on his 18th birthday Balotelli was Italian and, at a press conference to announce this, he stated his desire to play for Italy even though his Ghanaian parentage meant that Ghana had offered him the chance to play for them when he was 16.[LNB]Former Chelsea striker Pierluigi Casiraghi is Italy's Under 21 manager. He called up Balotelli a fortnight later and the youngster scored against Greece.[LNB]He was already a national figure by then. His skin colour ensured that, but so did two goals at Juventus in a Coppa Italia game midway through last season. They brought increased attention and the experienced player-turned-manager Sinisa Mihajlovic talked about Balotelli in dramatic terms.[LNB]'If he carries on improving like this, day after day, he could become one of the all-time greats. I always tell him to relax, as he mustn't be afraid of anyone or anything,' saidCatania boss Mihajlovic.[LNB]Difference of opinion: Mourinho and Balotelli have not seen eye to eye[LNB]Mourinho, though, began to see a different character, one even the former Chelsea manager thought arrogant. He described Balotelli's efforts in training as: 'Twenty-five per cent. If he was at 50 per cent he'd be one of the best players in the world.' So Mourinho dropped 'Super Mario'.[LNB]It did not prevent the teenager missing a flight to an Under 21 gamethat dismayed Casiraghi and there was petulance when shown two yellowcards and subsequent red during Inter's draw at Rubin Kazan inSeptember. Criticised by team-mate Javier Zanetti among others,Balotelli apologised on the club's website.[LNB]Yet CarloAncelotti has spoken admiringly of Balotelli, whose Inter contract hasanother 18 months, and his spikiness has to be set against the intenseugliness of  the racism he endures. [LNB]Juventus were forced tohost a match behind closed doors last April as Italian authorities who are bidding to stage the 2016 European Championship stepped in.[LNB]'I'm more Italian than those idiots,' said Balotelli. [LNB]Undeterred, Juve fans ignored this when in November they indulged in a chant of 'If you jump up and down then Balotelli dies'. [LNB] Juve were not even playing Inter. The club were fined £17,000. Some, such as Clarence Seedorf, who has been in Milan for a decade with Inter and then AC, hassuggested the racism directed at Balotelli is an expression of northern Turin-Milan rivalry.[LNB]Perhaps, but if Balotelli returns to Brescia once this weekend's fixtures are over and the winter break kicks in, it will be to a region undergoing an immigration checkingpolicy called, not so tactfully, 'White Christmas'.[LNB]It feels odd that more than three decades since Viv Anderson played for England, Italy is in this situation. They have had black internationals before Fabio Liverani, sonof a Somali mother and Italian father, was the first, in 2001 but Balotelli's skin is darker. Apparently that matters.[LNB]'Some of the debates in Italy on this are very, very basic,' said Piara Powar of campaigners Kick It Out. 'That Juve fans can even sing 'No black Italians' says a lot.' [LNB]If Balotelli knuckles down then Lippi will struggle to ignore the growing clamour to give him a full international debut prior to South Africa.[LNB]The noise in Italy caused by this would be loud and Lippi knows it. Berlusconi would have his say. Then again, if there is one thing Mario Balotelli has heard before, and often, it is white noise.[LNB] Arsenal set to make £18m Balotelli bid but Italians demand Fabregas in returnWenger: Blunders over Van Persie's injury could force us to buy in JanuaryCHECK OUT INTER MILAN IN OUT STATS ZONE[LNB]  

Source: Daily_Mail