Lyon

Mario Balotelli scored a beautiful game-winner, then got a red card 6 minutes later

Published Nov. 15, 2016 2:36 p.m. ET

Aaron West

Mario Balotelli's been on fire since he touched down on the shores of the Cote d'Azur. He's got six goals in five games for Nice, and his team is currently sitting pretty on top of Ligue 1 because he keeps doing things like this:

It's the 86th minute and who pops up with the winner? Our boy, of course. It wouldn't be Mario Balotelli without a little bit of controversy though. Balo got a yellow card for taking his shirt off during the celebrations, and then just six minutes later, this happened:

It seems incredibly soft, but Balotelli's ever-so-slight head— can we even call it a butt? Brush? Touch? Graze? Whatever you want to call it, it earned him a red card and he'll now sit out Nice's next match against Lyon to try and keep hold of the top spot in Ligue 1.

This is kind of comforting, in a fashion. You don't want your heroes to about-face too quickly and completely ditch their old ways. It's a bit refreshing to see some of the Old Balo pop up. As one Twitter user put it, this was 'the soccer of equivalent of playing the new album, before dropping in a classic from your debut piece.'

Just don't let it happen too often, alright Mario? We liked the old hits, but the new, more mellow sound is really what we're excited for.

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