Italian national team striker and Manchester City mercenary Mario Balotelli is no stranger to controversy.

There was that incident in August of last year when he crashed his $80,000 Audi A8 on his way to practice, sending a 25-year Manchester City ticket holder home with a few scars and a wounded BMW. As if that wasn’t bad enough, police found Super Mario carrying 5,000 pounds in cash. When asked why he would carry such a large amount of money he answered, “Because I am rich.”

Then there was that time in March when he was fined 100,000 pounds for throwing darts at Manchester City youth players . . .  out of boredom. That same month he left a game at halftime because of an allergic reaction to the field’s grass.

The incidents have inspired City fans to come up with a catchy little jingle. “Oooooh Balotelli, he is a striker, he’s good at darts, an allergy to grass, but when he plays he’s $#%@ class, he drives around Moss Side with a wallet full of cash.”

But Super Mario can’t go more than a few months without fresh controversy. While on national team duty with Italy in a game he did not start in against the Faroe Islands this week, Balotelli supposedly took an iPad on the bench with him. When confronted he clarified that he did not take it to the bench, but it simply was with him while warming up on the sidelines.

Can you really blame Mario though? Who wants to watch a boring soccer game when you could be playing “Angry Birds” instead?