4. Seeing Red At The Emirates
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AnGcULTNgEk
''I don't have any words for his behaviour. He will probably not play in the next six games. I need to be sure I always have 11 players on the pitch and with Mario this is a big risk.'' - Roberto Mancini, April 2012.
These were the words of a man who had finally lost patience. Pressed on whether Balotelli's last act for the club had been to scythe down Arsenal's Bacary Sagna, a still-seething Mancini simply shrugged and admitted that it was a probability. Having endured a late-season wobble, they needed a defeat at the Emirates like a hole in the head. Following Balotelli's reckless and inexplicable lunge at Sagna, he was instantly dismissed before Arsenal's Spanish metronome Mikel Arteta struck a late winner. As a result, Manchester United were eight points clear at the top of the table, and the quest for a first league title since 1968 looked likely to rumble on at Eastlands. It was probably Balotelli's darkest day at Man City, and there were certainly quite a few times when his relationships with Mancini and colleagues alike were strained. Showing absolutely no regard for the necessity of stability and calmness in the situation, he demonstrated a level of immaturity that simply has no place in title races. As Mancini intimated, his talent has never been in question, but it was thoughtless and unprovocative acts of stupidity such as this that threatened to curtail his promising career. However, you can't keep a court jester away from the party for too long, and in true Mario fashion, Mancini finally relented and Mario was back to play his most pivotal role in a City shirt in the league run-in.