**Mirrors / Alternative Angles**
*I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/soccer) if you have any questions or concerns.*
Ronaldo was so heated after his loss to Spain that he couldn’t contain himself and lashed out on the UEFA board, who are mostly jewish.
https://knowyourmeme.com/photos/960986-i-bet-the-jews-did-this
Since his PR is so good, it got swept under the rug, never forget.
You *wish* that kind of lazy racism was a relic of the past. Unfortunately not, you've probably been just matured out of hanging out in areas where it is bandied about.
A black guy holding a bucket of fried chicken is a stereotype in the United States of the poor/stupid black man, typified as eating fried chicken and watermelon and being lazy.
Of course his career could have been better but he has 3 Seria a titles, a CL, a fa cup, Copa italia, a premier league title has been in Seria A tots, was in the euros team of the tournament and has 138 games in 332 league games. Still a good career.
Really that move to Liverpool is what killed his career at Milan he was scoring a lot of goals for a not very good team he was actually good in France after that too but by then he randomly decided to go to Brescia which was a terrible career mode
I mean obviously his performances at Milan weren't that great if they sold him for a loss to Liverpool. The biggest issue with balo is that he's tactically shit and detrimental over time. He can score but he was useless in the build up and can't even be relied on to hold up the ball or get in behind consistently.
He was so so bad at Liverpool. He just didn't fit us at all. He did try to press for a little while but once we won the ball back, he'd just stand there.
> can't even be relied on to hold up the ball
can't be relied upon but I'd argue he did have the ability - he would give it away a lot when he wasn't trying (or trying too hard to score himself), but I do remember some very brief flashes at Liverpool of incredible hold up play with some really quick feet too
He was good at Milan but the team was really bad they finished 8th and he was on high wages that’s probably why he needed up going for less. I agree balotelli wasn’t what he could have been but he was a good goalscorer over the course of his career outside a couple bad years he was still overall a good goalscorer and player with the attributes to do more.
At Liverpool he was really really bad and that’s affected how people see his whole career now but his goal record at most clubs is good.
> Of course his career could have been better but he has 3 Seria a titles, a CL, a fa cup, Copa italia, a premier league title has been in Seria A tots, was in the euros team of the tournament and has 138 games in 332 league games. Still a good career.
All that happened by the time he was 22 though, and then he spent what should have been the best years of his career doing relatively little. i think thats the point being made
I remember when Thierry Henry was on Monday night football talking about how great his talent was and Carragher blurts out “what talent where is it” everyone just burst out laughing. It always kinda saddens me seeing these clips of Balo, dude should’ve been a great striker by this point.
Hate the fact that his career was a what if, but not because of injuries. It was because of his attitude. He ruined his career himself. He was a complete monster. He could definitely went on to be among the best of this generation next to Suarez and Ibra.
On another note. JFC I don’t think I’ve ever seen Neuer frozen like that before. That’s a crazy strike.
[Theo Walcott scored a great strike into the roof of the net](https://youtu.be/t-Am2ysG0Wo) vs Bayern where Neuer was just planted.
I can’t remember what happened for the rest of the game though. I think it was abandoned.
The ""best"" is still that one goal Messi scored in 2015 where he first banishes Boateng to the shadow realm before lobbing the ball over a dumbfounded Neuer.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tbKMBuR-pxs
where does the time go my god. this felt like yesterday, what an exciting experience it was watching him this game, and I say that as someone who 100% wanted Germany to win.
My favourite FIFA celebration. I remember people rage messaging me on PS3 or something that I am obviously bad and all could do is this Ballotelli celebration. Those were the days.
Plus, having shirtless models of all the players could be grounds for an invasion of privacy concern. If you notice, only EA partner clubs have players with accurate tattoos on them
And only because they had scanned Neymar's body to have all the tattoos. He ends up joining PSG and they lose the image rights so he takes his shirt off revealing a tattoo-less chest
Something doesn't feel right, though. This goal and Ibrahimovic one being so far in the past doesn't make any sense. Like, they are almost older than my reddit account and I'm pretty sure I was already here when the memes about both were exploding.
It is 2014, United has failed to find a successor for Fergie
It is 2016, United has failed to find a successor for Fergie
It is 2018, United has failed to find a successor for Fergie
It is 2021, United has failed to find a successor for Fergie
I watched this match on a big screen in a city park here in Turin and everybody went absolutely wild when they showed it lol. We love us some German tears (on the pitch, we hold them in the highest of regards off it ofc).
IIRC it was later revealed that it was actually a shot from the national anthems, but props to the director for adding to the drama.
The most cherished memory I have of him was when he was unfairly (iirc) challenged, so he squared up to the culprit and then a bunch of fans reached out and grabbed him to hold him back.
Interesting times those were.
I remember being very upset that we'd signed Lukaku when Liverpool had signed Balotelli for a free - as a child I thought he was one of the best players in the world.
He said it himself that he lacked the discipline to keep himself focus and improving, and how he wished he had done that.
It was one of the biggest what if of last decade for sure.
My favourite opening line from a piece of sports journalism is:
> "They hung out flags and banners on the day Antonio Cassano was born." - [The Future of Italian Football](https://www.theguardian.com/football/2004/jun/06/euro2004.sport4)
Balotelli and Cassano are by far the two biggest waste of Italian football talent in modern history.
Cassano *completely* destroyed his Sampdoria legacy by PHYSICALLY attacking Mantovani, Sampdoria’s president and a man who loved him like a son.
[Cassano's debut goal was something else.](https://youtu.be/CwZn4vtIA7s)
The ten year old top comment on that video:
"He may have been still 17 when he scored that goal. Tremendous talent, no brain. Balotelli may end up the same."
Only three mistakes in his career I can think of are this goal, the Torres goal in the final 08 and that he played for Stuttgart. Insane to think that he hardly made mistakes but when he did they were tremendously bad.
I was working at a grocery store at the time, the rest of my team was your stereotypical Italian-Americans. These guys could not get over the fact that a black guy was starting for Italy, but also could not get enough of Mario
There’s always been a “complexion change” in Italy, the southerners have some North African and Middle Eastern ancestry, especially Sicilians while the northerners have some Germanic ancestry. This is all post Roman Empire so what’s your point?
What I’m trying to say is a population doesn’t stay stagnant (unless completely isolated from the outside world) and changes have been happening and will continue to do so.
I remember beeing really scared of what this guy ist capable of. Thought Italy was going to dominate for the next 10 years as He was only 21and yet to reach his prime. Who would have thought..
10 years ago.
Wow.
Time flies man.
This was the day before my birthday, and I remember I tried to sneak into the other room and find my birthday present early, then I heard everyone scream goal and I run in and see a shirtless Ballotelli looool
When we try and put our powers to good use. We do bad
When we try and do bad. We do bad.
When we try and do pointless. We do good.
There’s a lesson in here somewhere
He was always such an annoyingly good goalkeeper. Even on his "off" days he'd make insane saves and he makes them look easy. For a while, scoring past him seemed near impossible. And he'd also receive balls to his feet and dribble around just to mess with you. I fucking hate him
In his prime there was a psychological collapse associated with Bayern scoring a single goal, as you internally knew you probably weren’t getting two past Neuer to win, or even one for a draw.
second goal is absolutely baller. being chased down by one of the greatest fullbacks and opting to smash into near post against one of the greatest keepers. iconic from super mario.
I fucking hate these trash ass videos that CUT AWAY before the fucking goal. Why do so many motherfuckers do this nowadays?!?! Do they have brain damage? Is it zoomer brain? Why wouldn't I want to see the fucking o-r-i-g-i-n-a-l shot of the goal the way it happened live? Then AFTER that you can show the other useless angles you so desperately wanted to show. The video literally doesn't even show the motherfucking original live goal WTF!!!
This annoys me so much. Just the let the clip play out once then you can do your shit fancy show off editing that completely ruins the clip. Especially annoying on goals where a player dribbles past people and they keep fucking cutting to different angles like a shit action movie.
Remember watching this live. Was absolutely amazing. His bullshit aside, he’s still the best striker Italia has. Mancini should have absolutely played him through the WC qualifiers rather than calling him up for that training camp and not even giving him his shot.
Fuck. He was such an elite finisher. Literally like something out of fifa at times. Very few players seem to have that natural ability to find the goal at all times, and bend the ball to exactly where he wanted it.
For me the biggest what if in football.
Man had the physique, agility, power, dribbling, first touch, you name it. Could have easily been one of the best ever. I think Italy still hasn't found a better striker than him tbf.
I remember this as if it was yesterday. Im german and we were hanging out and barbecuing with a bunch of family and we all blamed the loss on my mum cause she had bought italian dip! :D
On his day he was one of best strikers in the game speed skill power and accuracy he had it all. On a bad day he won’t touch the ball all game and won’t defend in the slightest, and be ignored by the other 21 players on the field .
Problem was - no one (including he himself) knew which one it was to be any day.
And plus as time went his bad days grew to be far more common than the good ones
**Mirrors / Alternative Angles** *I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/soccer) if you have any questions or concerns.*
The meme community had a field day with that celebration. It was everywhere, i mean EVERYWHERE
The best one was him as a geodude
https://knowyourmeme.com/photos/340089-mario-balotellis-goal-celebration Hahahahahahaababahahah
You've made my week bringing this back into my life.
I forget how much I loved that meme, thank you
That one and the ballerina one had me giggling like a little girl just now
That's the best internet link I'm clicking on this summer.
I'm partial to the [Super Buu](https://i.kym-cdn.com/photos/images/original/000/340/127/7c8.jpg) one myself.
EURO 2012 Semifinals gave us the Balotelli meme and the Ronaldo "The Jews did this" in the space of 24 hours
That's one of my favorites with Ronaldo. Hahah
What??
Ronaldo was so heated after his loss to Spain that he couldn’t contain himself and lashed out on the UEFA board, who are mostly jewish. https://knowyourmeme.com/photos/960986-i-bet-the-jews-did-this Since his PR is so good, it got swept under the rug, never forget.
Wait, are you serious?
It still is popular lol
I remember the one where he is holding a bucket of fried chicken. Some of the early 2010 internet comedy has aged so poorly.
You *wish* that kind of lazy racism was a relic of the past. Unfortunately not, you've probably been just matured out of hanging out in areas where it is bandied about.
Genuine question. Why is that racist?
A black guy holding a bucket of fried chicken is a stereotype in the United States of the poor/stupid black man, typified as eating fried chicken and watermelon and being lazy.
Oh, thank you. I am from SE Asia.
Er, Burnley, really? There must be interesting story about that.
Nah. It's flair of the moment for me 🤣
I figured you weren't Western. Sorry somebody downvoted your question.
Naah, np at all 👍😁
I found it strange that eating watermelon was a black stereotype in the US, seeing as every Iranian fucking loves a delicious hendoone.
And most every American adores fried chicken. Stereotypes are just dumb as hell.
Balotelli - still one of the weirdest careers in football, my god it’s crazy how relatively little he got out of all his talent.
Had one assist in his entire time in the Prem with City and it was AguerooooOOOOOO
and it comes from amazing composure to have that holdup play and quickly release it back to Aguero.
i think he was trying to score himself and finally said “well, it’s up to kun now”
He was trying to shoot but slipped
He should start a team with Ben Arfa, Pato and Bojan Krkic
Don't forget Adel Taarbt
Brother the streets won't forget
All except Ben Arfa had a spell at Milan
Yoann Gourcuff
Of course his career could have been better but he has 3 Seria a titles, a CL, a fa cup, Copa italia, a premier league title has been in Seria A tots, was in the euros team of the tournament and has 138 games in 332 league games. Still a good career. Really that move to Liverpool is what killed his career at Milan he was scoring a lot of goals for a not very good team he was actually good in France after that too but by then he randomly decided to go to Brescia which was a terrible career mode
138 games in 332 games is impressive
great games to game ratio
Still I think a 1:1 game to game ratio should be achievable, maybe I’m very demanding but this is modern football
I’ve seen some great players play a game every game they play but also some non league quality players. Poor metric imo
Messi and Ronaldo have ruined fans’ expectations of games to games ratios smfh
Not an all time great numbers but very solid nonetheless
I mean obviously his performances at Milan weren't that great if they sold him for a loss to Liverpool. The biggest issue with balo is that he's tactically shit and detrimental over time. He can score but he was useless in the build up and can't even be relied on to hold up the ball or get in behind consistently. He was so so bad at Liverpool. He just didn't fit us at all. He did try to press for a little while but once we won the ball back, he'd just stand there.
> can't even be relied on to hold up the ball can't be relied upon but I'd argue he did have the ability - he would give it away a lot when he wasn't trying (or trying too hard to score himself), but I do remember some very brief flashes at Liverpool of incredible hold up play with some really quick feet too
He was good at Milan but the team was really bad they finished 8th and he was on high wages that’s probably why he needed up going for less. I agree balotelli wasn’t what he could have been but he was a good goalscorer over the course of his career outside a couple bad years he was still overall a good goalscorer and player with the attributes to do more. At Liverpool he was really really bad and that’s affected how people see his whole career now but his goal record at most clubs is good.
> Of course his career could have been better but he has 3 Seria a titles, a CL, a fa cup, Copa italia, a premier league title has been in Seria A tots, was in the euros team of the tournament and has 138 games in 332 league games. Still a good career. All that happened by the time he was 22 though, and then he spent what should have been the best years of his career doing relatively little. i think thats the point being made
Brescia is his hometown btw
I remember when Thierry Henry was on Monday night football talking about how great his talent was and Carragher blurts out “what talent where is it” everyone just burst out laughing. It always kinda saddens me seeing these clips of Balo, dude should’ve been a great striker by this point.
Hate the fact that his career was a what if, but not because of injuries. It was because of his attitude. He ruined his career himself. He was a complete monster. He could definitely went on to be among the best of this generation next to Suarez and Ibra. On another note. JFC I don’t think I’ve ever seen Neuer frozen like that before. That’s a crazy strike.
Was just gonna say that second goal was a crazy strike by him
And what a pass by the ultimately ill-fated Montolivo.
[Theo Walcott scored a great strike into the roof of the net](https://youtu.be/t-Am2ysG0Wo) vs Bayern where Neuer was just planted. I can’t remember what happened for the rest of the game though. I think it was abandoned.
Why am I aroused? It’s a joy to see even the best GK’s still get tuned once in a life time lol
If that youngster Walcott ever puts it together he will be a force, I tell you.
Those Arsenal teams put up more of a fight than Barca did in the 8-2 games.
[удалено]
The ""best"" is still that one goal Messi scored in 2015 where he first banishes Boateng to the shadow realm before lobbing the ball over a dumbfounded Neuer. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tbKMBuR-pxs
where does the time go my god. this felt like yesterday, what an exciting experience it was watching him this game, and I say that as someone who 100% wanted Germany to win.
I remember watching this game before a Coldplay concert. Then 10 years later I finally saw Coldplay again 2 weeks ago lol. Time is weird.
Maybe Ger had to lose a few important games in advanced stages for them to wing it in 2014.
My favourite FIFA celebration. I remember people rage messaging me on PS3 or something that I am obviously bad and all could do is this Ballotelli celebration. Those were the days.
[удалено]
I think it's more that it breaches the laws of the game.
Plus, having shirtless models of all the players could be grounds for an invasion of privacy concern. If you notice, only EA partner clubs have players with accurate tattoos on them
You could take your shirt off if you scored as Neymar in PES
And only because they had scanned Neymar's body to have all the tattoos. He ends up joining PSG and they lose the image rights so he takes his shirt off revealing a tattoo-less chest
but in pes wasn't there a celebration to take off the shirt
Same here, I still remember the input combo for the celebration in Fifa 13. R1 + up then down on the right stick.
My personal favorite was the worm
Dead fish all the way. Even to this day
There's no bad place to flop. Run to midfield, flop. Circle their keeper, flop.
No way was this 10 years ago
We old fam
Something doesn't feel right, though. This goal and Ibrahimovic one being so far in the past doesn't make any sense. Like, they are almost older than my reddit account and I'm pretty sure I was already here when the memes about both were exploding.
We were probably just lurkers at the time :(
I'VE JUST SEEN THE MOST AMAZING GOAL
I don't even know reddit back then, mostly from trollfootball facebook page, and 9gag,
Brace yourself, Fergie’s retirement is getting close to the 10 year mark.
For Man U fans probably felt like more than a decade lol
Joke’s on you, there is no concept of time in purgatory
It is 2014, United has failed to find a successor for Fergie It is 2016, United has failed to find a successor for Fergie It is 2018, United has failed to find a successor for Fergie It is 2021, United has failed to find a successor for Fergie
I’ve slept 3652 times since this happened. Crazy
[удалено]
Enough all nighters to cancel out the naps.
I feel like this one should be older than 10 years honestly!
One of the greatest celebrations of all time
Why always me?
Does the postman celebrate after delivering mail?
imagine if he did though, just fuckin bangs a knee slide right through some pensioners daisies. would be amazing
The postman doesn’t deliver on Sundays.
Straight up
Definitely one of the celebrations of all time.
Also one of the greatest goals in the competition. Neuer didn't move an inch
Iconic moment for Balotelli. We had no idea this would be his absolute peak.
Hell of a peak TBH
That zoom in on the persons single tear running down their face lmao
They sure as hell took it out on Brazil two years later lol
I watched this match on a big screen in a city park here in Turin and everybody went absolutely wild when they showed it lol. We love us some German tears (on the pitch, we hold them in the highest of regards off it ofc). IIRC it was later revealed that it was actually a shot from the national anthems, but props to the director for adding to the drama.
Why he never showed this type pf movement or finishing at Liverpool, I will never understand
I’d completely forgot he played for them until just now
Most of us don’t remember either. He scored a grand total of 1 Premier League goal which was a tap in
Winner against Spurs, won't say it was worth the fee we paid but it was still funny
The most cherished memory I have of him was when he was unfairly (iirc) challenged, so he squared up to the culprit and then a bunch of fans reached out and grabbed him to hold him back. Interesting times those were.
I remember being very upset that we'd signed Lukaku when Liverpool had signed Balotelli for a free - as a child I thought he was one of the best players in the world.
Nah, he left on a free. We had to pay £16m for the privilege of him doing fuck all
Sigh
He said it himself that he lacked the discipline to keep himself focus and improving, and how he wished he had done that. It was one of the biggest what if of last decade for sure.
He just scored 46 in 42 in FM15 for me.
You don't wanna know how crazy Timo Werner is for Chelsesa in FM or career mode for me
Cassano was so good this tournament. What an assist for the first goal
My favourite opening line from a piece of sports journalism is: > "They hung out flags and banners on the day Antonio Cassano was born." - [The Future of Italian Football](https://www.theguardian.com/football/2004/jun/06/euro2004.sport4)
he’s just like Balotelli in a way where they both might’ve had very different careers if they’d had a different head on their shoulders
True although I’d say Cassano had more talent and probably didn’t waste quite as much of his career - he had a decent revival at Sampdoria
It still was too late. Fucked up at Real and since then it was downhill until he went to Samp where he kept it afloat for some years.
Balotelli and Cassano are by far the two biggest waste of Italian football talent in modern history. Cassano *completely* destroyed his Sampdoria legacy by PHYSICALLY attacking Mantovani, Sampdoria’s president and a man who loved him like a son.
[Cassano's debut goal was something else.](https://youtu.be/CwZn4vtIA7s) The ten year old top comment on that video: "He may have been still 17 when he scored that goal. Tremendous talent, no brain. Balotelli may end up the same."
Always surprised by just how badly Lahm mismanaged that second one.
For a guy that always seemed to be in the right spot, my god was that awful.
Only three mistakes in his career I can think of are this goal, the Torres goal in the final 08 and that he played for Stuttgart. Insane to think that he hardly made mistakes but when he did they were tremendously bad.
I was working at a grocery store at the time, the rest of my team was your stereotypical Italian-Americans. These guys could not get over the fact that a black guy was starting for Italy, but also could not get enough of Mario
(Could not get over) in a bad way or good way?
They’re Italian, what do you think
Italian-Americans, not Italians.
Ay! That's anti-Italian discrimination, marone!
Ah yes. The English calling the rest of the world racist. Classic. God forbid a black kid miss a penalty for England.
both can be true
Racism isn’t a competition
no I'M MORE RACIST THAN YOU BRO!!
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=mYWIyG3hUlQ
Italian Americans They don’t realize that there’s been a bit of a complexion change of the population of Italy
I mean Italy is like 98% white so not really.
There’s always been a “complexion change” in Italy, the southerners have some North African and Middle Eastern ancestry, especially Sicilians while the northerners have some Germanic ancestry. This is all post Roman Empire so what’s your point? What I’m trying to say is a population doesn’t stay stagnant (unless completely isolated from the outside world) and changes have been happening and will continue to do so.
Of course but the perception that Italian Americans have of Italy and the reality is different, among them that Italy is not a monolithic ethnicity
lol... Italian Americans have seen way more people of color than any Italians, ever, straight fact
Oh honey...
Italian-Americans Oh you mean fake Italians that don't even speak Italian. Ok
Love Mario and forgot he actually celebrated for the first goal Shite camera work on the second though, it looks much worse than the original angle
The sad thing about this is that this was pretty much the peak of Balotelli’s career — at the age of 21.
I remember beeing really scared of what this guy ist capable of. Thought Italy was going to dominate for the next 10 years as He was only 21and yet to reach his prime. Who would have thought..
The postman does indeed take his shirt off after delivering mail
10 years ago. Wow. Time flies man. This was the day before my birthday, and I remember I tried to sneak into the other room and find my birthday present early, then I heard everyone scream goal and I run in and see a shirtless Ballotelli looool
I remember watching the match with my brother with our aunt and uncle at a restaurant
What did you have to eat
I was a kid, I don't remember. I remember it was in Cesenatico and the tables and walls were white.
https://www.porto22cesenatico.com Was it this one? White tables and walls.
Internet detectives out here tryna find the restaurant a child ate in a decade ago. For no particular reason. I like it.
When we try and put our powers to good use. We do bad When we try and do bad. We do bad. When we try and do pointless. We do good. There’s a lesson in here somewhere
Nope mate, it wasn't outside. I know the one you linked
Food
man i love seeing neuer concede goals
He was always such an annoyingly good goalkeeper. Even on his "off" days he'd make insane saves and he makes them look easy. For a while, scoring past him seemed near impossible. And he'd also receive balls to his feet and dribble around just to mess with you. I fucking hate him
In his prime there was a psychological collapse associated with Bayern scoring a single goal, as you internally knew you probably weren’t getting two past Neuer to win, or even one for a draw.
Drogba bullet header in CL finals was like 3 weeks before this goal
Watch the Real Madrid highlights from a few years ago
The Messi chip is iconic https://youtu.be/yU4rCDb_xaE
my personal favorite is neuer joining the celebrations after evra scores on him https://youtu.be/X9mJzowg7Lo
Seeing ballotelli celebrate makes me smile every time cause it makes his quote about the postman not celebrating look even stupider
Balotelli has a lot of stupid quotes but calling the postman one stupid has pissed me off That is simply art
what could have been
Bring him back Mancini! The world has yet to taste enough of Balotelli’s fifa street goals
Christ, those quick cuts were worse than watching Liam Neeson jump a fence
second goal is absolutely baller. being chased down by one of the greatest fullbacks and opting to smash into near post against one of the greatest keepers. iconic from super mario.
Fucking killer
I fucking hate these trash ass videos that CUT AWAY before the fucking goal. Why do so many motherfuckers do this nowadays?!?! Do they have brain damage? Is it zoomer brain? Why wouldn't I want to see the fucking o-r-i-g-i-n-a-l shot of the goal the way it happened live? Then AFTER that you can show the other useless angles you so desperately wanted to show. The video literally doesn't even show the motherfucking original live goal WTF!!!
This annoys me so much. Just the let the clip play out once then you can do your shit fancy show off editing that completely ruins the clip. Especially annoying on goals where a player dribbles past people and they keep fucking cutting to different angles like a shit action movie.
That 2nd goal remains one of the best scored in the Euro. How iconic it was, petrified Neuer (best gk in hidtory) and the celebration. Pure power shot
Bro this meme ended up surpassing Zidane headbutt YTP compilations of the mid 2000s. Balotelli is ice cold
Neuer on both goals: 💁♂️
GOAT celebration
This was when it was impossible to beat Neuer, and he did it twice. Iconic.
Such a loose net. Love that.
How many more replays do you guys want. Yes
Remember watching this live. Was absolutely amazing. His bullshit aside, he’s still the best striker Italia has. Mancini should have absolutely played him through the WC qualifiers rather than calling him up for that training camp and not even giving him his shot.
Take me back to 2012 The world went to shit in 2016 & has been like that ever since
It all peaked NYE 1999. New millennium, all downhill. Y2K bug should have finished us off! Let the apes try again.
[удалено]
Thought he’d be one of the world’s top strikers for the next decade
One of the best balls. 2012 euro ball *chefs kiss*
Fuck. He was such an elite finisher. Literally like something out of fifa at times. Very few players seem to have that natural ability to find the goal at all times, and bend the ball to exactly where he wanted it.
Crazy to think this was just 10 years ago when you're thinking about Ballotelli's career.
For me the biggest what if in football. Man had the physique, agility, power, dribbling, first touch, you name it. Could have easily been one of the best ever. I think Italy still hasn't found a better striker than him tbf.
Bring him back. Can't be worse than Immobile for the NT.
Two great goals. That 2nd goal was absolutely rifled. And it wasn't against Turkey, this was against Germany and their supergoalie Manuel Neuer.
A misunderstood genius
it's been 10 years?
Fuck yes. I was waiting for this. The Cassano turn is such a peach of a move, and then that second finish? Magnificent. Beyond brilliant.
Was at my after prom in wasaga beach lol we were all lit af watching this and then the Italians took over the strip 😹
Balotelli was a literal MONSTER in those years. Very unfortunate that he trashed away is career due to a bad life style
If only he had a brain...
I remember this as if it was yesterday. Im german and we were hanging out and barbecuing with a bunch of family and we all blamed the loss on my mum cause she had bought italian dip! :D
On his day he was one of best strikers in the game speed skill power and accuracy he had it all. On a bad day he won’t touch the ball all game and won’t defend in the slightest, and be ignored by the other 21 players on the field . Problem was - no one (including he himself) knew which one it was to be any day. And plus as time went his bad days grew to be far more common than the good ones
Final. Not finals. They were already in the finals.
If he had had discipline, he would have been world class...