For the second week in a row, Serie A title pretender Roma played before league-leading Inter Milan and won, closing the gap at the top of the standings to a single point. But for the second week in a row, Inter responded with a comfortable 2-0 win against potentially troublesome opposition. The Italian press was duly impressed. “Inter don’t lose their head,” said the Gazzetta dello Sport, while even the Rome-based Corriere dello Sport was forced to acknowledge the Nerazzurri’s “Show of Force,” saying, “Inter respond to Roma, countering the Giallorossi’s convincing [3-1] win at Udinese with an equally decisive success over Fiorentina.”
Meanwhile, the common denominator in both games has been the goals of 17-year-old Mario Balotelli. Talisman Zlatan Ibrahimovic may be injured, but Inter’s barely skipped a beat thanks to the superb Balotelli. Inter’s other strikers — Hernan Crespo, Julio Cruz and David Suazo (who’ve all at one time or another been considered among the best strikers in Europe) — can’t get a game thanks to the teenager’s recent performances. Balotelli on Sunday registered his second Serie A goal in three starts; he has six in nine overall first-team appearances when you factor in the Coppa Italia.
The son of Ghanaian immigrants, young Mario was entrusted to the Balotelli family at age two. As this was not a formal adoption, he is not an EU citizen (yet). This is Balotelli’s first year in Serie A after coming through one season with Inter’s U-17 team, during which he scored 19 goals in 20 games.