It had to be one of the most, if not the most, bizarre incidents in Euro 2012 so far. Italy’s Mario Balotelli does a nice job catching Spain’s Sergio Ramos wide on the right at just the right time, set himself up on a silver platter for a goal … but the striker from Man City decided to wait. And wait. And wait even longer. The fans watching had time to go to the bathroom and come back, the goal-keeper had enough time to read the morning newspaper, as Balotelli squandered a huge scoring opportunity for his country and potentially limited his playing time for the rest of the tournament. Balotelli found himself alone against Casillas with a clear passing option, but soon found Ramos on top of him and lost the ball.
That was the Balotelli’s last action of the match; he came off for Antonio Di Natale, who scored soon after for Italy.
That looked strange, to put it nicely. Match fixing anyone?
The match ended in a 1-1 draw with goals scored by Spain’s Fabregas and Italy’s Di Natale.
Found June 10, 2012 on
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