The “Super”, which combined with his given name has always been a faithful traveling companion in newspaper columns, in sports commentaries and in the chants of fans, this time we leave it aside. And it is not a spite, or a desire to downplay the over 200 career goals scored by Mario Balotelli in the football that counts – not small change – with which he has provided a tangible contribution to the successes of the teams you have played with. That nickname recalled a famous video game, in which a plumber began each level with reduced dimensions, to then acquire power-ups and grow, shoot, fly and win, defeating opponents becoming truly super, in the fullest sense of the term.

Mario did it too. Growing exponentially in the first years of his career, acquiring what really seemed like superpowers and giving the impression of being predestined. Because scoring two braces at 17 in the Italian Cup against Reggina and Juventus is anything but common stuff, just as it is not usual to become the youngest Champions League scorer in the history of Inter, with whom he climbed into double figures in his first season with adequate minutes played as soon as he came of age. And also the 27 goals in the first two years at Manchester City, which ended in that 2012 that crowned him top scorer of Euro 2012 concluded with the silver medal for the Azzurri behind Spain, the 21 out of 21 from the penalty spot that preceded his first mistake in his professional career, up to the nomination in the Ballon d’Or list that year are an unmistakable mark of quality.

Once upon a time there was “SuperMario”

However, looking back, you understand that something doesn’t add up. Inter sold him after the treble (perhaps that shirt thrown on the ground after the Champions League semi-final against Barcelona will have weighed on him), City bought him and sold him for a lower price to Milan, who in turn, after a second year concluded with his personal best of seasonal goals (18 between the league and cups), preferred to send him to Liverpool from where they even let him go to France for free. In Nice he did brilliantly (43 goals in 66 games) but at the beginning of the third year he left, in Marseille the idyll lasted just six months despite eight goals in fifteen appearances. And even in Turkey, when he scored 19 in 33 games with Adana Demirspor, the adventure ended with a divorce despite another two seasons of signed contract.

Many remember the shirt he showed after scoring twice against United, in the historic Manchester derby that they won 6-1. It said “Why always me?”, referring to how he was always at the center of the controversy that was raised. It makes you want to ask Mario the same question: why always you? For what reason, despite your effectiveness on the pitch that, objectively, has never been lacking, has there always been something that has prevented you from starting your own cycle in a club? The cases are starting to be many, too many, to think that the responsibilities are to be attributed to the environment, the press, the locker room, the coaches. Or that some extra-football episodes have had such a disabling influence on your career.

Even snubbed by India, Balotelli trains alone

Now he is training alone. It is bitter to think of him far from high-level football, snubbed even by India according to the rumours of some local newspapers, despite his 34 years and a still intact physique (without any really serious previous injuries to make his general condition shaky). And it is too easy to make him the target of criticism by hiding behind the canonical statement “He who is the cause of his own misfortune should cry for himself”. On social media he talks about “inventions about him and that I will soon clarify everything. Now I train to be ready”. And yet, for those who love this sport, the feeling that he has squandered too many chances to let only the pitch do the talking with his performances remains indissoluble. As he admitted in an interview with The Athletic: “I have missed some opportunities to reach the levels of Cristiano Ronaldo and Messi, but I am still certain that the technical basis was the same. My head led me to make many mistakes”. As Luigi Garzya once said in an interview that became a cult on Mai Dire Gol, “We fully agree halfway”. To be precise, the second part of the sentence. And certain mistakes, unfortunately, have a high price tag.