Mario Balotelli: Who He Is | Part 2

~Who He Is

It was one of the biggest blockbuster moves Milan had made in a long time. It was a move Milan desperately needed in the middle of what was considered a horrid season by Milan standards. There were fans at the airport waiting for Mario's arrival, screaming, cheering, waving red & black in the night sky. It was like the white knight had arrived to save us. All the attention, all the pressure of the most successful club in the world was now solely on Mario Balotelli and he absolutely embraced it. The signing of him not only reenergized Milan and Milanisti alike, but it reenergized Mario as well. He was finally playing for his favorite club not too far from his family in hometown Brescia. It was a dream debut for him. Mario's first match for Milan was against Udinese at the San Siro. Stephan El Shaarawy came down the right-hand side and tried to put the ball in the box, but it was deflected by some defenders and eventually found it's way to Mario's left foot. Mario smashed it in to score his for goal for Milan and give Milan the 1-0. Then in injury time Mario stepped up to take a PK in a 1-1 game, unsurprisingly, he scored and Milan won the match 2-1 all thanks to Mario Balotelli. Mario went on to score a goal in practically every single game for Milan for the rest of the season and push them into 3rd place in Serie A, to qualify them for the Champions League.

You can just tell Mario is at home in Milan. He's very happy and comfortable, playing great and not getting in the media for the wrong reasons like he did in Manchester. Mario has always been a love/hate kind of guy and while he was at Manchester, it was pretty clear he was mostly hated. However, since his move to Milan, his popularity has gone up even more and has won many fans over. Mario is the heart of Milan now. He's also the face of the Azzurri. His move to Milan has not just directly helped the club or himself, but has taken massive attention and pressure off the entire squad, especially Stephan El Shaarawy. In the first half of the 2012/13 season, Stephan was the only Milan player performing and all focus was on him. Mario's arrival in January completely changed that. He loves attention and handles pressure as if there isn't any pressure at all. Mario is a completely different person now, mentally. He is relaxed and can focus his attention completely on playing football. After an extremely successful half season with Milan, Mario continued his run of form into the Confederations Cup in Brazil. He helped Italy take third place after a lose to Spain in the semi-final and a win over Uruguay in the third place match. He is establishing himself a one of the best in the world and why he can help Italy win it's 5th or even 6th World Cup.

"Winning the World Cup is more of an objective than a goal." - Mario Balotelli
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0zC2x0Ipa7Q