Mario Balotelli scores astonishing rabona in five-goal haul for Adana Demirspor | OneFootball

Mario Balotelli is one of the most entertaining footballers of the modern era.

Once touted as a future Ballon d’Or winner and a man who fancied his chances of reaching Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo‘s level, Balotelli has never been anything short of blockbuster entertainment.

Sadly, Balotelli never reached the heights once expected of him with his career fizzling out across spells with Manchester City, AC Milan and Liverpool, but it’s fair to say that it’s been an entertaining journey nonetheless.

Balotelli: Box-office entertainment

From fireworks in bathrooms to ‘Why Always Me?’ at Old Trafford and everything in between, the Italian maverick certainly made up for what he lacked in discipline with pure drama.

And the eccentricity that made Balotelli such a popular character away from the pitch would also bleed into his performances on the pitch from time to time.

Besides, you only have to look at the day that Balotelli was hooked from a Manchester City pre-season clash with LA Galaxy for attempting a back-heel shot on the swivel to see the point.

And it seems as though Balotelli is enjoying his football more than ever at Adana Demirspor on the evidence of Saturday’s Super Lig clash with Göztepe S.K.

Not only did the former Inter Milan striker help himself to five(!!!) goals in a 7-0 annihilation at the New Adana Stadium, but he also scored one of the craziest goals that we’ve seen in a long, long time.

Balotelli scores outrageous goal

Known for his flare and penchant for skills, Balotelli decided that he was going to shift into full showboating mode by scoring from a combination of step-overs and a rabona.

Marauding into the penalty area with enough step-overs to remind you of someone spamming the same button over and over again on FIFA Street, the 31-year-old then proceeded to take aim at goal.

What happened next? Well, instead of taking a conventional shot with his left foot, Balotelli found the far bottom corner with an outrageous rabona finish that you can enjoy in all its glory down below:

Is that the most Balotelli goal of all time? More than likely.

Fan reaction

The beauty of the beautiful game

The absolute audacity to even consider going full 2007 Ronaldo with hilariously unnecessary step-overs is one thing, but to crown it off with a rabona strike is something else.

And while some might consider that disrespectful to Göztepe – who sit firmly in the relegation zone of Turkey’s top-flight – there will no doubt be plenty of fans who want to see more of that in the beautiful game.

In an age where tactics, discipline and shape are being constricted into ever-tighter cookie cutters of perfection, it’s in those flashes of flair and eccentricity that the pure essence of football really shines.

Things might not have worked out for Balotelli as so many of us might have imagined, but it couldn’t be any clearer that the one thing he hasn’t lost over the years is his love for football.