He scored early and pretty spectacularly, but as always with Mario Balotelli, there was a subplot.
In a hastily arranged friendly match with Serie C side Mantova on Thursday—played just as Southampton’s Graziano Pelle, the current holder of the Italy centre-forward’s jersey that should have been Balotelli’s property by now given his potential, was playing up front for the national team—the forward found the net after three minutes.
It briefly flickered across social media. As an amusing distraction from the evening’s Euro 2016 qualifiers, in which Pelle scored Italy’s winner against Malta, it was a good one.