His name is Mario. Born in Palermo in August 1990 from Ghanaian parents, he is officially adopted by the Balotelli family at age 2. His height is 1m89, his weight 88kg, his touch & technique already reminiscent of the greats of football history. On Wednesday this week, he officially became the Inter Milan hero when the Nerazzurri knocked Juventus out of the Coppa Italia, thanks to two goals by the young striker and a penalty shot by Cruz. Some might say he is Inter’s response to a certain young Brazilian recently acquired by AC Milan, but Mario Balotelli is unique in his own way and this week, has proven that your name doesn’t have to be Alexandre Pato for everyone to say “A Star is Born in Milan”.
Tactically, aside from the usual “give your backup players a chance to shine” drill, this match had two very important novelties, one on each side. For Juve, it was the very first match for Guglielmo Stendardo (recent loan acquisition from Lazio) who occupied the Bianconeri central defense (now devoid of Jean-Alain Boumsong, on his way to Lyon). For Inter, it was the starting lineup spot of the aforementioned Mario Balotelli, a choice which had matured in Roberto Mancini’s mind due to David Suazo’s non-ideal athletic conditions. Oh also, it was Mauro Camoranesi’s return to action after (yet another!) month-long injury…
Based on the result of the first leg (2-2 at the San Siro, with goals by Cruz (double), Del Piero and Boumsong), you might have expected the home team to play it safe, keep their defense locked tight and operate on counter-attacks. Not this Juve. Instead, it very much seemed as if Claudio Ranieri instructed his troops to go full steam ahead, gnarl at their opponents, and take one big bite in their carotid artery to wrap up the ticket to the next round. As a result, the spectacle enoyed by the 20,616 spectators of the Stadio Olimpico was majestic, and didn’t take very long at all to get started.
Minute 10: exploiting a very long ball forward by Maniche, Mario Balotelli waited for the ball to bounce, got rid of Birindelli (who, challenged by the striker’s superior physique, slipped), and slammed his shot past Belardi (before Stendardo could close him down). Not the prettiest of goals and certainly not the prettiest of defenses, but 1-0 Inter.
However, just 4 minutes later came the reaction of Juventus: following a foul of Jiménez on Cristiano Zanetti, the Bianconeri obtained a free-kick a few meters away from Inter’s box, and who else to take it but Alessandro Del Piero (in absolutely storming form tonight). On this one, the Juve captain was actually also fortunate, because the wall (Stankovic) deflected his effort and fooled Toldo by sending him the wrong way. 1-1.
With momentum going their way after the equalizer, Juventus continued to push forward and break through their opponents’ defense. Maicon wasn’t being particularly attentive in his covering work, and his right-side was often the playground of choice for Pavel Nedved and his trademark rushes forward. Del Piero in particular, was being absolutely devastating tonight: dribbles, recovered balls, key passes, he was doing everything. His “coast-to-coast” run in minute 56, a sprint of over 50m from one side of the field to the next (before a foul of Pelé finally brought him down) was a delight to witness, and anyone watching the game tonight would really have to be wondering who was the 33 year-old, and who was the youngster in this particular case.
Unsurprisingly, based on what was seen in the first 30 minutes of play, Juve eventually took the lead on the development of yet another set piece. In minute 31 Del Piero delivered the free-kick from the left wing, and found Stendardo’s header inside the box: the effort of the new Bianconeri recruit beat Toldo but not the woodwork, however the ball rebounded straight to Vincenzo Iaquinta, who deposited into the empty net with his head. 2-1 Juve.
Inter in all of this? Struggling. Considerably. Especially when it came to the defensive work, the Nerazzurri were leaving way to much space to their rivals, who were being allowed all kinds of real estate on both sides of the field. The only glimpse of Inter’s presence during this time, was a slamming shot of Maniche stamped on the post in minute 20, but not much else.
Fortunately for Mancini however, the Juve defense wasn’t devoid of criticism either. Especially in occasion of Inter’s tying goal: a corner-kick by Dejan Stankovic was followed by an effort of Luis Jimenez, Hasan Salihamidzic got a touch with his hand, penalty. Julio “El Jardinero” Cruz transformed the spot-kick, and it was 2-2 at the break despite the clearer domination of the home team.
At the restart, neither manager decided to make any changes. In the case of Mancini, while the rest of the team wasn’t shining particulary brightly, no one could have blamed the Inter coach for keeping his star youngster onto the field: up until then, Balotelli had been one of the best Nerazzurri players of the night, and his show continued all the way throughout the 2nd half. Two back-to-back technical displays (minute 46, perfect cross for Stankovic, shot wide; minute 48, assist for Cruz, shot parried by the keeper, chance wasted) were just the appetizer to show everyone that the lad meant business.
But first things first. In the previous paragraph, I was saying no one except Super Mario was playing particularly well for Inter. That’s being a bit harsh. No one except Super Mario and Super Toldo. At moments tonight, it was almost as if we were watching the Inter keeper version Euro 2000: absolutely stunning reflexes worthy of the very best Gigi Buffon, in particular in minute 49 when a perfect chance for Nedved from 12 yards out was unbelievably parried away by Toldo. The Inter nº1 would be producing a similar miracle later in the game, on yet another fantastic play combining Trezeguet and Del Piero, but I’m getting ahead of myself.
Firstly, it was time for Inter to re-take the lead, this time for good. Remember I said Balotelli was just getting warmed up? In minute 53, came the goal of the night: receiving a low pass inside the box, the young striker controlled the ball with his back to the goal, and (with Legrottaglie watching) tapped the ball to the left with his knee before firing a ground-to-air missile straight into the top corner. 3-2 Inter, and wow. Magical stuff from the kid.
Sadly for Juve, that was the last goal of the night. The Bianconeri now had to score twice to reduce their aggregate deficit, and really gave their hearts out in the final 30 minutes. Unsuccessfully, because as I mentioned earlier there was a certain Francesco Toldo guarding the Inter net which, you’ll excuse the comparison, isn’t exactly the same level of Emanuele Belardi. There was a little bit of space for Mauro Camoranesi in the end, but with the Bianconeri pushing forward the game got progressively nastier: yellows were handed out here and there, and Camo even managed to earn a straight red for a bad tackle on Pelé. Shameful.
Regardless, this was clearly Inter’s night, and in particular the night of a new-found hero amongst the Nerazzurri ranks. It must be a real relief for Roberto Mancini, to know that if (for some obscure impossible science-fiction-like reason) Zlatan Ibrahimovic were to stop scoring all these goals for Inter, there’s someone on the bench ready to step in. And shine very very brightly, if only you give him a chance…
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2-3 [Match Highlights] |
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| GOALSCORERS: 10’, 54′ Balotelli (I), 14’ Del Piero (J), 31’ Iaquinta (J), 39’ pen. Cruz (I) | ||
| JUVENTUS (4-4-2): Belardi – Birindelli (68’ Camoranesi), Stendardo, Legrottaglie, Molinaro – Salihamidzic, Nocerino, C.Zanetti, Nedved (74’ Palladino) – Iaquinta (67’ Trezeguet), Del Piero. (bench: Vanstrattan, Castiglia, Ariaudo, Tiago). Coach: Ranieri | ||
| INTER (4-3-1-2): Toldo – Maicon (87’ Solari), Rivas, Córdoba, Maxwell – Stankovic, Pelé, Maniche (54’ Vieira) – Jiménez (70’ J.Zanetti) – Cruz, Balotelli. (bench: Orlandoni, Chivu, Cambiasso, Solari, Suazo). Coach: Mancini. | ||
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A tough tackling defensive midfielder, Sissoko is seen by some as a future midfield star of European football, in particular Liverpool manager Rafael Benítez, who showered praise upon him when he arrived at Merseyside, saying Sissoko possessed “incredible ability for his age” and similar qualities to Frenchman 
Sissoko started his professional career playing as a striker in AJ Auxerre, beggining from the French Club’s youth team and eventually climbing all the way up to the senior roster in 2002. Before he could demonstrate his skills at the Stade de l’Abbé-Deschamps however, he was snatched at age 17 by the Spanish club Valencia in the summer of 2003.
At the time, the manager of Los Che was current Liverpool coach Rafael Benítez, who eyed the Malian player as a talented youngster with obvious potential to turn into a top-notch defensive midfielder. Up until then, Sissoko had always played as a striker for Auxerre, but began adapting to his new role under his new manager.
Sissoko moved from Valencia to Liverpool in the summer of 2005 for a fee reported at €7.1m (£5.3m). He had been expected to sign for Liverpool’s rivals Everton but ultimately plumped for the opportunity to work again with former Valencia boss, Rafael Benítez. Sissoko rapidly established himself as a key figure in the Reds’ central midfield, alternating with Xabi Alonso and the irreplaceable captain 
The 2006–07 season got off to a flying start for Sissoko with victory for Liverpool in the FA Community Shield and Sissoko taking the Man-Of-the-Match award. Sissoko’s season had been put on hold due to an arm injury he suffered at Birmingham City in the Carling Cup in early November. On 29 January 2007 it was announced that Sissoko would be fully fit for Liverpool’s local derby match against Everton on 3 February . However,he made his comeback from injury by playing against Newcastle in a game which Liverpool lost 2-1.
Sissoko would be largely unsuccessful in this battle, losing his place to Mascherano in the 2007 UEFA Champions League Final. This led to people questioning whether the Malian would leave Liverpool, with notable clubs such as Juventus and Barcelona reportedly interested. However on June 28th, Sissoko signed a contract to extend his Liverpool career a further 4 years, keeping him at Merseyside until 2011. It was later revealed that Sissoko had indeed received an offer from Juventus, but he turned them down as Liverpool are a ‘bigger club’
On January 29th 2008, Liverpool F.C. confirmed the sale of Sissoko to Juventus F.C., for a fee of €11.0m (£8.2m).
ENGLAND 
SCOTLAND 
GERMANY 
SPAIN 
FRANCE 
HOLLAND
BELGIUM 
SWITZERLAND 
POLAND 
RUSSIA 
No 
Three minutes later, another wing attack but on the other end: Nedved through for Del Piero, but the striker’s finish from inside the box was only a hairbreadth away from the Livorno post. 1-1 on scoring chances. After the first half-hour of play however, Juve would strike and would strike hard. Exploiting a perfect pass forward by Zanetti, David Trezeguet let the aerial ball bounce once before firing a shot past 
After the restart, it took the Bianconeri only 4 minutes to virtually put the game on ice: with the Livorno backline pushing very far up the field, a stolen ball by Zanetti (once again) turned into an instantaneous assist for Alessandro Del Piero who, starting from his own half, made a 50m run all the way inside the Livorno box to beat Amelia through the legs. Not bad for a 33-year old, and 2-0 Juve.
With more real estate to exploit, the Bianconeri really went to work on their opponents. Their third goal however, they owe it to no one but theselves: the preparation in training, the perfect teamwork, the delightful technique. With 
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