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。

　　半決賽中，憑借漂亮的射門打敗德國隊后，馬里奧•巴洛特利擁抱了養母西爾維婭。而昨夜，巴神卻讓大家見證了他自稱不時會出現的一幕：由超級馬里奧變成了蠢貨馬里奧。

　　他讓大家看到了自己的另一面。決賽哨聲吹響之時，這個21歲意氣風發的年輕人如一陣旋風般奔出隧道，沒人會質疑他對比賽的投入。可一切好像都預謀好了要摧毀意大利似的，先是兩人受傷被換下，到第三位替補隊員上場時，又因為嚴重受傷而下場，只剩10人苦戰，結果又慘遭上屆冠軍西班牙隊蹂躪，再丟兩球。

　　這很難讓人接受，巴洛克利的表現也可以原諒，然而昨夜，他與他那些沒有憤然離場的老隊友們最終都落淚了，其中包括安德里亞•皮爾洛。

　　人們當然會原諒他，在某種程度上是由于他年紀尚輕，但也是因為他在這屆歐洲杯比賽中的精彩表現。在遭遇最強國家隊西班牙隊之前，意大利隊一直都表現上佳，然而在和西班牙隊交鋒后，他們的雙腿卻像灌滿了鉛一樣動不起來。

　　與其說他是本屆歐洲杯中冉冉升起的一顆新星，不如說是仍包裹在翅膀中——從某種程度上講——待飛的彼得•潘(巴洛克利這樣描述自己)。昨晚這場決賽充斥了大量數據和對球員價值的爭論，不過有一條頗有揭示性。根據體育數據提供商Opta的資料，巴洛特利并沒有在西班牙罰球區碰到球，盡管用肉眼看，他制造的威脅似乎比這個確鑿證據所顯示的要大得多。

　　他最后的表現，尤其當他推開一名試圖阻止他離開的意大利官員時，無疑令人不快，甚至憤怒。當有人懇求他留下感謝球迷時，他嘴里咕噥著，但最終還是留了下來，加入隊友，大口地喝著水，昂首闊步，看起來那么的格格不入。

　　巴洛特利是最后一個領取失敗者獎牌的意大利隊員，他神情木然。但隨之而來的便是眼淚，一如他的本色——一個努力承受失落的年輕人。他欠佳的發揮令他的經紀人米諾•拉奧納顯得荒謬可笑。這位投機取巧的經紀人曾宣布他的客戶現在身價2億英鎊。還是去掉一個零吧。

　　巴洛特利的狀態正在回歸。他在比賽中的大部分時間都克制住了自己——盡管西班牙的第四粒進球已突破了他忍耐的極限。在西班牙人狂熱慶祝時，巴洛特利久久地坐在球場中線，直到比賽重新開始。他只是無法接受這一切。也許，這也意味著人們對他的期望過重了。