In the Blue corner... Mauler Mario in fourth bust-up as Italian takes on RichardsBy Chris Wheeler
Last updated at 7:45 AM on 16th December 2011
Why always me? were the words written across Mario Balotelli’s T-shirt when he celebrated scoring in October’s Manchester derby.
His club must be asking the same question after their young striker was caught up in yet another unsavoury incident on Thursday.
Whether Manchester City’s ‘fight club’ reputation is deserved or not, they know it will not be helped by photographs of Balotelli clashing with team-mate Micah Richards in the latest training-ground bust-up at Carrington.
Clash: Micah Richards and Mario Balotelli (right) go head to head at Manchester City's training groundIt is the fifth incident of its kind caught on camera in the space of a year. Balotelli has been involved on four occasions.
This time, he and Richards were on the same team in a practice match at the end of training, when Balotelli is believed to have reacted angrily to a comment from the England defender that he was not pulling his weight.
The two men squared up but James Milner, Yaya Toure and Vincent Kompany quickly dragged them apart.
Calm down: James Milner struggles to stop Richards as things get heated at Carrington
Richards was later said to be joking about the incident and wrote on his Twitter account: ‘Me & mario are all good! these things happen in training & we shook hands after. it shows passion!’
City say such incidents are commonplace on training grounds up and down the country, and that flare-ups at Carrington are only highlighted because photographers have a clear view from a public footpath.
But there is a growing concern that it is happening too often and that Balotelli is once again the man in the thick of it.
Stepping in: City captain Vincent Kompany does his best to hold back BalotelliThe 21-year-old was involved in a scuffle with former City team-mate Jerome Boateng last December, a month before Kolo Toure had a set-to with Emmanuel Adebayor.
In April, Balotelli was photographed jabbing his finger at Kompany as team-mates intervened when he reacted angrily to a tackle from the Belgian.
Nothing to see here: Roberto Mancini attempts to play down the incident as he spots the photographersIt happened a few weeks after Balotelli was pictured receiving a ticking off from manager Roberto Mancini for his rash challenge on Carlos Tevez, while in August there were photos of another confrontation with Aleksandar Kolarov.
There have been many other controversies surrounding Balotelli since his £24million move from Inter Milan in 2010. This season alone, two of the more unusual episodes have involved him travelling to Naples to give evidence to prosecutors in a Mafia trial, and there was a blaze at his Cheshire mansion started by a firework being let off in the bathroom.
Read more:
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sport/football/article-2074816/Mario-Balotelli-Micah-Richards-Manchester-City-row.html#ixzz1ggTMZ2hz
