5 crossings with Inter, no personal revenge

The last time the Brescia played in Serie A was the post season treble when – after winning everything – theInter a new cycle began. It was in August that Massimo Moratti sold Mario Balotelli to Manchester City for 28 million euros plus bonuses. The 90-year-old striker returned to Milan three years later, but on the other bank of the Naviglio, the one that had never made any secret of preferring even when he was galloping towards the season that was the peak of his career. With Inter, Mario won 3 Scudetti, 1 Coppa Italia, 1 Supercoppa Italiana, 1 Scudetto with Primavera. The other only two titles won in the career by the attacker date back to the time Citizens, 1 FA Cup in 2011 and a Premier the following year. Three of the top national titles won, 2 Scudetti and 1 Premier won them with Roberto Mancini that made him debut in Serie A with Inter's shirt in a Cagliari-Inter 16 December 2007, in the field for a single minute, entered instead of David Suazo.

His first real game with Inter was shortly after, on December 19 in the Coppa Italia against Reggina, a game in which he scored his first official goals and replied the following January 30, when the Italian Cup quarter-finals returned against Juventus. Another one-two which confirmed the turn of the day. The first real match in the league was played by the memorable Inter-Roma of the two captains, February 2008, with Javier Zanetti who answered Francesco Totti in one of the heads-up for the Scudetto with Luciano's Roma Spalletti, during which he played thirty-two minutes entering Cambiasso's seat. The first title came to the next match against Napoli which ended 1-0 for the Neapolitans and the first goal in Serie A came in April of the same year against Atalanta, 2-0 for Inter in Bergamo: assisted Vieira on the first goal and doubling goal.

The revelation in all aspects of Balotelli with its endless and controversial facets comes with Mourinho, with which he sometimes ended up on the bench as a punishment as that time when he entered the locker room singing the Milan anthem. Joy and pain. Genius (in) inclusive and unregulated directly proportional to talent; instinctive, irascible and impetuous, but seeing him dance with the ball was pure spectacle. Often the crazy prodigy turned out to be exactly as it was: a paradox of and with itself. Just him, the guy with the head never in place that ended up putting at least the results back. Not many goals for Inter, 28 in 3 seasons, 15 assist and 86 attendance in all competitions. Few but good and above all heavy, like against Anorthosis on November 4, 2008, when with his double he becomes the youngest scorer in the Champions League of Inter history, realizing at 18 and 85 days his first goal in UEFA competitions per club, exceeding the previous record of 18 years and 142 days set by Obafemi Martins. The first season of Mou was also decisive in the draw with Roma or against Juventus and also the following year, in the year of the treble, he repeated himself solving matches like Rubin Kazan, Chievo, Parma, Palermo and Udinese. That year, however, with Inter on the roof of Europe, he ended up having a bittersweet taste for the nerazzurro number 45: outside of the technical choices of Jose at the Camp Nou for the semifinals he remained outside at the Bernabeu in the final with Bayern and his last appearance in the Champions League with the Beloved was memorable, if only for one of the most recriminated and disputed gestures by the Inter players.

The launch of the jersey at the end of the match with Barca while San Siro was celebrating was an outrage never forgiven by Inter fans, who only years later, when he returned to Meazza with the Milan shirt, filled him with boos. A welcome that has never done justice to what seemed to be able to become the striker of the future at European and world level. There are many regrets of a SuperMario that could have been and that was not: between City, Milan, Liverpool, Nice and Marseille, Balotelli's all talent that at the age of 17 had made Italy and Europe fall in love has remained only that of the 'balotellate', far from the athletic consecration that would have been natural if he had listened to the head more than the heart and instinct, wild and bursting more than his right and his body.

After the farewell, Balo has faced Inter five times, all with Milan, without ever being able to take a personal victory that, if not a rematch, could certainly have served as a ransom for a people that perhaps, for disappointment and pride, has forgotten it too much in a hurry without ever really regretting it. In the five times in the field against the Nerazzurri, Mario has never scored but in his first derby against him he has at least a few times worried Samir Handanovic, in February 2013. The last appearance against his old family instead was in 2016 when it was Milan that won but did not enter put his signature. Only 11 minutes in the field and a yellow card, thus concluding a picture that depicted him as the prodigal son who was never diligent and whose regrets he did not have. After a European wandering back to the Italian championship at the beginning of this season in Brescia, at home, where he grew up as a man before as a footballer. Tonight against Inter, a team faced several times in Serie A without ever going to the mark, Super Mario will once again find himself face to face with his most bittersweet past, having the opportunity to demonstrate a maturity as a footballer and as a little man listed by most, being able to begin to wipe out that bad boy aura that seems destined to carry on even now, ten years later and an experience that has never responded to the expectations of his years at Inter.