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由超级马里奥变成了蠢货马里奥

　　Having hugged his adoptive mother Silvia at the final whistle ofthat awesome semi-final victory, having so wonderfully scored thegoals to beat Germany, Mario Balotelli last night did what he saidhe sometimes does: he went from Super Mario to Stupid Mario。

　　He showed his two faces. He looked a very, very young 21year-old at the final whistle when he immediately stormed off downthe tunnel although no one could have doubted his commitment untilthings conspired against Italy, two down and down to 10 men after acruel injury to their third substitute, and being toyed with by thechampions Spain who stroked in two more goals。

　　It was hard to take and Balotelli can be forgiven for that and,eventually, there were tears of his own last night to go along withthose already shed by his older team-mates, such as Andrea Pirlo,who had not barged their way off。

　　He can be forgiven for it, of course, because of his age, to anextent, but also because he had a wonderful tournament in what wasa wonderful narrative for the Italians before they faced probablythe greatest national team to play the game with their legs feelinglike they were filled with lead。

　　Rather than a star being born at this tournament, one stillremains in the wings – to an extent – a Peter Pan (as Balotellidescribed himself) waiting to be fully airborne. In what became afinals dominated by stats and debate over their worth, there was anapparently telling one last night. According to Opta, Balotelli didnot touch the ball inside the Spanish penalty area though to thenaked eye, he appeared to carry a greater threat than that damning note。

　　His behaviour at the end was undoubtedly petulant,unsavoury, especially when he pushed asidean Italian official who tried to stop him leaving. As he wasimplored to stay and acknowledge the supporters, he muttered underhis breath but finally did emerge to rejoin his team-mates,

　　swigging a bottle of water with a swaggerthat looked out of place。

　　Even as Balotelli was the last Italian player up to collect hisloser’s medal he appeared almost vacant.But then there were those tears and he did look what he was - ayoung man struggling to deal with disappointment but also one whoseactions, after a limited performance, had shown how ridiculous itwas for his opportunistic agent, Mino Raiola, to have declared thathis client was now worth £200 million. Knock a nought off thatfigure。

　　Balotelli’s actions were coming. He had held himself in check -largely - during the match although that fourth Spanish goal tippedhim over the edge. As they celebrated, Balotelli was on hishaunches on the halfway line, not moving for what seemed aneternity until the game eventually restarted. It was his simpleinability to process it all. Maybe also a sign that too much hadbeen expected of him。

　　半决赛中，凭借漂亮的射门打败德国队后，马里奥•巴洛特利拥抱了养母西尔维娅。而昨夜，巴神却让大家见证了他自称不时会出现的一幕：由超级马里奥变成了蠢货马里奥。

　　他让大家看到了自己的另一面。决赛哨声吹响之时，这个21岁意气风发的年轻人如一阵旋风般奔出隧道，没人会质疑他对比赛的投入。可一切好像都预谋好了要摧毁意大利似的，先是两人受伤被换下，到第三位替补队员上场时，又因为严重受伤而下场，只剩10人苦战，结果又惨遭上届冠军西班牙队蹂躏，再丢两球。

　　这很难让人接受，巴洛克利的表现也可以原谅，然而昨夜，他与他那些没有愤然离场的老队友们最终都落泪了，其中包括安德里亚•皮尔洛。

　　人们当然会原谅他，在某种程度上是由于他年纪尚轻，但也是因为他在这届欧洲杯比赛中的精彩表现。在遭遇最强国家队西班牙队之前，意大利队一直都表现上佳，然而在和西班牙队交锋后，他们的双腿却像灌满了铅一样动不起来。

　　与其说他是本届欧洲杯中冉冉升起的一颗新星，不如说是仍包裹在翅膀中——从某种程度上讲——待飞的彼得•潘(巴洛克利这样描述自己)。昨晚这场决赛充斥了大量数据和对球员价值的争论，不过有一条颇有揭示性。根据体育数据提供商Opta的资料，巴洛特利并没有在西班牙罚球区碰到球，尽管用肉眼看，他制造的威胁似乎比这个确凿证据所显示的要大得多。

　　他最后的表现，尤其当他推开一名试图阻止他离开的意大利官员时，无疑令人不快，甚至愤怒。当有人恳求他留下感谢球迷时，他嘴里咕哝着，但最终还是留了下来，加入队友，大口地喝着水，昂首阔步，看起来那么的格格不入。

　　巴洛特利是最后一个领取失败者奖牌的意大利队员，他神情木然。但随之而来的便是眼泪，一如他的本色——一个努力承受失落的年轻人。他欠佳的发挥令他的经纪人米诺•拉奥纳显得荒谬可笑。这位投机取巧的经纪人曾宣布他的客户现在身价2亿英镑。还是去掉一个零吧。

　　巴洛特利的状态正在回归。他在比赛中的大部分时间都克制住了自己——尽管西班牙的第四粒进球已突破了他忍耐的极限。在西班牙人狂热庆祝时，巴洛特利久久地坐在球场中线，直到比赛重新开始。他只是无法接受这一切。也许，这也意味着人们对他的期望过重了。