Mario Balotelli has taken to Instagram to share a picture of his latest face tattoo with his 9.7million followers.
The 31-year-old treated himself to some new ink after being left out of the Italian side that failed to qualify for the Qatar 2022 World Cup.
Balotelli decided to show off his latest tattoo on his Instagram story by sharing two close-up photos of his face. The tattoo appears to say ‘MB 459’ and is located under his left eye.
Italian striker Mario Balotelli has shared his latest face tattoo on his Instagram story
Balotelli shared the image of his tattoo after Italy’s World Cup qualifier with North Macedonia
Balotelli has revealed he has many tattoos – including a quote from Mongol warlord Genghis Khan on his chest.
‘I am the punishment of God,’ reads the artwork. ‘If you had not committed great sins, God would not have sent a punishment like me upon you.’
However, the 31-year-old first tattooed his face and neck in August 2020, sharing the photos on his Instagram page.
He added the words ‘black power’ above the his eye, a cross symbolising his Christianity on his cheek, an eagle’s feather on the left side of his face and a snarling gorilla’s face and the letter ‘m’ on his neck.
He showed off tattoos in 2020 on his Instagram, which include the words ‘black power’
The striker added a series of emojis to his post to symbolise each of his new tattoos
Therefore, it comes as no surprise that Balotelli has added an new design to his ever-growing collection.
Balotelli revealed his new tattoo just days after Italy missed out on a second successive World Cup by losing 1-0 at home to North Macedonia in their play-off semi-final.
The European Champions were favourites to take a big step towards the tournament in Qatar but instead failed to qualify for the showpiece event.
It was Aleksandar Trajkovski who ended the Italian dream by picking up a loose ball in the 92nd minute and turned it into a goal scoring opportunity.
The 29-year-old coasted past the Italian defence and fired it home from outside the box.
The North Macedonia bench erupted with joy as the ball touched the back of the net, while the Italians dropped to their knees and held their heads in their hands.
He has a range of tattoos – including a quote from Mongol warlord Genghis Khan on his chest
The result came just eight months after Roberto Mancini’s side beat England at Wembley in the Euro 2020 final and the Italian manager’s own mother hinted her son could be to blame.
Mancini’s mother Marianna said she would have selected Balotelli for the all-important fixture as he ‘has incredible physical strength and in front of the goal nobody can stop him’.
She said: ‘It could’ve gone better, but this is football, sometimes things go right and sometimes things go wrong. We had the match in our hands but the attack wasn’t great.
‘I would have called up Balotelli, because he has incredible physical strength and in front of the goal nobody can stop him.
‘Unfortunately, mistakes like Jorginho’s (missed penalty) cost us. I don’t want to point my finger at him because he certainly didn’t do it on purpose, but if you miss three penalties…’
He revealed his new tattoo shortly after Italy failed to qualify for the 2022 World Cup
The Italians were beaten 1-0 at home to North Macedonia in their play-off semi-final last week
Balotelli started his career with Lumezzane before joining Inter Milan in 2007. He went on to sign for Manchester City in 2010 and completed spells at Liverpool, Nice and Marseille.
Balotelli is currently playing for Turkish side Adana Demirspor and has scored 12 goals so far this term. However, he has not played for his country since September 2018.
Balotelli is also known for his off-pitch antics. The 31-year-old has previously been accused of setting his bathroom on fire after attempting to send fireworks out of the window.
He also attended a strip club two days before a game, crashed his Audi R8, fought with Mancini at training and gate-crashed Andrea Stramaccioni’s press conference.
