Super Mario!

Mario repays the faith shown in him, not only by Prandelli, but for the numerous times Mancini has stuck by him over the last few seasons.
2 fantastic goals in the 1st half sunk a German side, who, like England had no answer for the awesome Pirlo.

And, it puts into context England's defeat on penalties by Italy, maybe we weren't all that bad after all? no, actually we were...!

Now, let's have a decent final, and whatever the result, we'll have another champion in the team! what a season this has turned out to be!
go on Mario, go on David, let's have a classic...

Wow what a superb MATURE performance from SMB !

Lets hope this tournament is the making of him, he can put all the foolishness behind him & become one of the greats !

Well done Mario

And it's always good to see the Germans stuffed

Superb show by Magic Mario,what is his price now? Juve cannot afford him.

Off topic,compared to Buffon, Joe Hart is brilliant,Buffons distribution and handling were to say the least,wanting.The tournament, from Citys point of view has been fantastic.David Silva, Super Mario,Jo Lescott

Joe Hart,they have all been immense. Jimmy Milner put in his usual stint.Even Gael Clichy was great for France. Rooney and Young???

the only downside was taking off his shirt and getting booked. he still has a bit to learn.

Never saw that coming - thought the Germans would be too strong. Really good match - I also thought the same as Bob - we never shipped any goals against the Italians - if only the two Ronnies - sorry the two Ashleys hadn't fluffed their lines we could have gone on and stuffed the Germans. LOL

Well done Mario - proud of you. Hope the Italians stuff the Spanish now.

Excellent finishes both, though the second was a scorcher!

Another England finals wrecked primarily by Manu; Young's peno/ pube head's crapness; phil Neville stupid challenge (France 98 and one other occasion I think?); Rooney getting sent off, one trick pony's petulant kick out...there's been that many I've lost count now and they all seem rolled into one. Added to the possibility that we might e able to show up FFP for the farce it is and I think Football (and England) are eventually going to thank us for ending the red empire and starting a new era.

Mario has a new nickname now "il Postino" after his comment about not celebrating, "does a Postman celebrate when he delivers the mail" "I'm just doing my job"
I see the headlines now, The Postman Always Rings Twice!

Let's hope he carries on this controlled playing style and delivers another great display in the final! The only downside is that with Silva playing in the final, one of our players is going to be unhappy come the final whistle!

I thought Germany would've won comfortably. Shows what I know, I guess!

Decent enough display from Italy, but showed the Germans defence up in a big way. Defensively, we were far superior, we never let Mario have that kind of space for most of the game and the one occasion he did slip his man, Joe stood him down well.

http://www.mcfc.co.uk/citytv/Features/2012/June/Show-reel-4-Mario-Balotelli

Watch Noel Gallagher basically sum up what Mario is.

I just find it irritating seeing what he can do compared to the displays he puts in for city

Paulpowersleftfoot wrote:I just find it irritating seeing what he can do compared to the displays he puts in for city

Come on PPLF....we all know he's been a twat, but a genius at the same time. I think we all should hope that this tournament will finally see him grow up a little - he's only 21 still.

One things for sure - the £22m we paid for him could be easily doubled if City wanted to sell him right now - which isn't going to happen.

Yes, I'd like to see Mario get all fired up when he plays for us too. I know he gave a good showing in the FA Cup final, and against the rags at the swamp, and on the last day of the season. But I want to see him do it on a wet Monday night against Wigan, or on a chilly New Year trip to Sunderland.

And I'm getting a mite tired of this "only a kid" argument (sorry Blue), he's the same age as Danny Welbeck and yet the massive gap in temperament is painfully obvious. Granted, Welbeck isn't half as able, but are we really forgiving Mario because of the talent he undoubtedly has? He needs to grow up. Hopefully he stormed off the pitch last night to calm down, rather than just sulk.

Personally i still think he's a knob and wouldn't be pissed off in the slightest if he was sold (i know it's not going to happen btw).

That said, i admit he does seem to have shown a tad more maturity at the Euros, so IF he continues along that path at City next season we may well get alot more from him.......changing my mind about him along the way .

I don't think we should go overboard on his goals here, ok he took them both well but what about the numerous shots he's blazed high wide and handsome? The law of averages says he was going to score atleast 1.

His agent's now come out and said he'll be the 1st £200m player.............i now know where "Super Mario" gets his inflated ego from. I'd just be happy if we got what we paid for him (joke ) .

Right, i'll await your abuse!

Shaken, no abuse from me, if he'd have continued where he started the Euro's (pounding the turf after fluffing his lines) and got sent off, then he'd be on shakey ground, but because he's risen to the occasion, shown maturity, scored a few corkers, we can all hope he continues on this path next season.
Post Arsenal, he's been vastly improved.

Will happily show him the door with the extra 10m on his pricetag after the Euros. Still too much of a liability for the odd streak of brilliance.

Reverted to type after the final acting like Kevin and Perry wanting to storm off the pitch.

SuperMario my arse
Somewhere along the line people seemed to have confused " character " and "arsehole". Mario is an A grade arsehole,I've yet to see anything to change my mind about him and would get shut in a heartbeat.
And he can take Iscariot with him because he's an A grader too,not fit to be in the presence of Vinnie and Zab

what did mario actually do???

he ran about harder than usual. good for him.

he didn't get himself sent off. good for him.

he scored two great goals in 6 games and one easy header.

it was a good patch of 6 games for him. aguero will do that all season long (and more)

He looked very mature in the way he played, he scored 2 great goals in the semi, he tried in the final but got no service, he was upset at the end because he'd done his best. I think that is the maturity we want to see from him. Give him a chance to prove himself at city, don't just write him off. He is a world class striker who has issues. Let him prove himself, don't just write him off