How Mario Balotelli beat the racists to become an all-Italian hero

Published 11:27 15/11/11

MirrorFootball has teamed up with some of the blogosphere's best new writers to bring you even more great football reads every single day.

Today it's our new Serie A blogger, footballitaliano.co.uk 's Mina Rzouki, with her take on the week's big issues in Italy.

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Mario Balotelli may well be the personification of madness. Attracting headlines like a magnet as he dwells in a state of perpetual absurdity, the Italian youngster is the media gift that keeps on giving.

On this occasion, the media furore surrounding him was due to his on-pitch brilliance as opposed to his off-pitch ridiculousness. While the Man City player has long been hailed as a beautiful footballer, his goal against Poland ( which you can watch here ), the first to ever be scored for the national side by a black player, represented more than just a plan B for Coach Cesare Prandelli who has lost both Giuseppe Rossi and Antonio Cassano.

Instead, Balotelli’s majestic performance represented the evolution of the Azzurri in a country that is slowly shedding its past to usher in a new future. With Silvio Berlusconi finally resigning to inject some much-needed hope into a political establishment that has often left itself exposed to ridicule, the Azzurri took another step forward on the pitch to welcome the winds of change.

Balotelli’s breath-taking goal and subsequent celebration that involved him kissing the Italian badge not only spat in the face of racists who have long held the country back from moving forward, it also represented a shift in attitude as a player so often subjected to racial abuse in Italy was hailed as the symbol of Italy.

The very same player who continued to reiterate the now infamous line: “I am Italian and will only play for Italy,” to those who disgracefully shouted: “There are no black Italians,” at him.

It was a performance worthy of a symphony of compliments from the press. La Gazzetta dello Sport reminded everyone that the Italian was born during the summer Italy witnessed the magic of Salvatore Schillaci in the 1990 World Cup. Indeed the pink newspaper that regularly indulges in the theatrics of the beautiful game, spoke of how Balotelli’s frequent slips throughout the match against Poland were symbolic as they represented the player's’s tough journey in life in which he often slipped only to rise again and succeed.

Aside from what Balotelli performance represented for Italy, his football certainly deserved praise. The once selfish player usually known for his scoring prowess came out on Friday and demonstrated maturity. He assisted the team, he set up teammates, he recovered balls in the middle and he terrorised the opponents. In short, Balotelli was the team player the Azzurri hoped he would be one day.

While the young Italian striker led the attack, another black Italian took his place in the heart of defence, Angelo Ogbonna. The Torino centre-back has long been hailed as the future of the Azzurri defence and despite playing in Serie B, his outstanding skill and vision saw him play his first ever game for the national team at senior level on Friday night.

And yet if Ogbonna and Balotelli are the future then Cesare Prandelli is the current conductor of this orchestra, and the face behind the new modern look of the Azzurri. Gone are the days when authoritarians such as Giovanni Trapattoni sat on the bench demanding grit and hard work. Prandelli, softly spoken and always keen to open dialogue is the quintessential modern Coach - eager to philosophise and experiment and one who favours the beauty of football to the security of results.

Tactically Prandelli has also changed Italy’s playing style by replacing the typical target man up top with nimble and creative geniuses in addition to packing the midfield with technical ball players.

However, having lost his creative attacking duo upfront for the long term, Prandelli had to find an alternative solution and Balotelli and Giampaolo Pazzini were tasked with leading the new attack against Poland. Despite the difference in characteristics, Italy still created, still passed to devastating effect and Prandelli’s style of play was still very much evident. The may have lost two players but they gained further flexibility.

Next up: the return of Tabarez and Uruguay
Tonight, Italy will face the tactician who once upon a time coached both Milan and Cagliari, Oscar Tabarez - the man behind a stunning Uruguayan project.

Uruguay has long been a country burdened by its celebrated past and unpredictable future. However, under the tutelage of Tabarez, the South American country has replaced pride with hard work to create a cohesive and flexible team that possesses both individual brilliance and collective understanding.

Despite favouring defensive precision and solid back-lines, Tabarez’s Uruguay boast one of the most potent and creative attack line-ups that include three Serie A stars – Edinson Cavani, Diego Forlan and Abel Hernandez. They're a physically imposing side built upon the tradition of ‘garra’, which in this instance means tough resolve, and Tabarez has encouraged his players to develop their skills so that they may rely on technique as opposed to gritty play.

Despite Uruguay being deemed as favourites for the win, Italy should never be underestimated and the Azzurri will be looking to expose the the gap between Uruguay’s defence and midfield and hoping that their ability to hold possession will render them more capable.

Italy will line up in their usual 4-3-1-2 despite suffering with that formation in the first half against Poland but Prandelli is determined to see if it is a workable shape or something he should scrap altogether. However, it is likely they will change to a 4-3-3 formation with the inclusion of Simone Pepe at some stage of the match – the same shape Uruguay will deploy on the night.

Balotelli and Roma’s Pablo Osvaldo will lead the attacking line-up whilst the South Americans who are dealing with something of an injury crisis are without many of their attacking stars, relying on Cristian Rodriguez and Seba Fernandez to work their magic alongside Napoli’s Cavani.

Orchestrated by two tacticians who believe in their respective projects, the match promises to be thrilling and will undoubtedly bring back fond memories of a time when both countries dominated the world of international football.

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Follow Mina Rzouki on Twitter @Minarzouki and at footballitaliano.co.uk

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