A British teenager said that eccentric soccer star Mario Balotelli secretly followed her home to beg her for a date.
Waitress Lauren Thorne, 19, did not recognize the Manchester City striker when he turned up at her home in Stockport, northwestern England, after apparently spotting her as she drove home from work.
When the shocked teenager answered her door, Balotelli asked, "I just saw you and wondered if I could take you out."
She was about to slam the door in his face when her City fan uncle recognized 21-year-old Balotelli and invited him into their two-bedroom home.
The Italian striker then spent 20 minutes on the sofa chatting about soccer -- while still trying to persuade Thorne into going out with him.
She told The Sun: "I just thought he was some guy trying it on. I couldn't believe it when I realized who he was. I thought it was a bit weird and slightly stalkerish. I suppose it was quite flattering to be asked out -- but when he knocked on the door, I really didn't know who he was. He didn't tell me his name or how he knew where I lived. I was slightly freaked out."
Smitten Balotelli -- who was dating stunning model Raffaella Fico, 24, at the time -- saw Thorne as she drove home in her Renault Clio from her job at The Old Rectory Hotel.
He followed her in his new black BMW Z9 before knocking on her front door at around 8:00pm local time. Thorne -- still in her work uniform and name tag -- was about to send him packing when her uncle Steve McCauley, 50, came bounding out.
She said, "We were all in shock. It was very surreal. It's not every day that a millionaire footballer knocks on your door. We went into the living room, and he sat down on the sofa with my uncle to talk about football. But every now and then, Mario would turn to me and ask again if I would go out on a date with him. He asked me three times, and each time I politely said no to him. I knew he had a girlfriend, and I have no interest in going out with a footballer."
