Mario Balotelli appears to be preparing to celebrate New Year’s Eve in a familiar fashion.
The Italian posted a photo of a car boot packed with several boxes of fireworks to his Instagram story.
And considering his history with Manchester City, his current side Adana Demirspor have a reason to be concerned.
The 31-year-old has rediscovered his form in the Super Lig this season, netting seven goals and laying on two assists in 18 appearances and is set to celebrate in style after posting the snap with boxes of fireworks piled high.
He captioned the photo ‘Man City, we are ready,’ referencing an infamous incident from his Manchester days.
During his stint at City, the striker infamously set off fireworks in the bathroom of his £3million rented house in Cheshire on the eve of the top-of-the-table derby clash in 2011.
Balotelli had to flee from his burning five-bedroomed house after his stunt started a fire and, although he escaped unscathed, two fire crews were required to put out the blaze in the early hours.
Sergio Aguero and David Silva may have dominated the pitch at the time but it was Balotelli who was grabbing the headlines as the firework fiasco was just one of the moments that sparked his ‘Why Always Me?’ shirt celebration.
He had been the subject of controversy since his £24m move to City from Inter Milan in 2010.
He crashed his car soon after arriving, drove around the city centre throwing money out of his camouflage Bentley and was reprimanded for throwing darts at youth players around the training ground.
He had told club officials he and four friends were setting off fireworks through an open window when the bathroom towels caught fire and later claimed that that one of his friends was responsible for setting off the firework.
In an ironic turn of events Balotelli became Manchester’s ambassador for fireworks safety later that year in the run up to Bonfire Night.
‘It is important children should not mess with fireworks. They can be very dangerous if they are not used in the right way. People should follow the firework code,’ he warned, via The Guardian.
But ten years on, Balotelli does not seem to be taking his role that seriously as he jokingly referenced his flaming past with fireworks ahead of his New Year’s Eve celebrations that seem set to go off with a bang.
