Mario Balotelli time, and that when a police officer asked why he had such a large sum of cash, Balotelli replied, "Because I am rich." Off-field activities involving Balotelli have included driving into a women's prison in Italy to "have a look round", and throwing darts at a youth team player during a training ground "prank" – all of which have been confirmed to be true. Balotelli has also been subjected to tabloid rumours about him confronting a bully in a school after querying why a young Manchester City fan was not attending classes, and giving £1,000 to a homeless man on
Mario Balotelli in his 14th Ligue 1 appearance, a 1–0 win at Lorient; he received a straight red card in the second half for insulting referee Tony Chapron in English. He was given a two-match ban (the second match was a suspended ban that would be triggered in the event of any further misconduct by Balotelli) by the Ligue 1's disciplinary committee on 23 February. On 25 June 2017, Balotelli signed a one-year contract extension with Nice. On 26 July, he played his first match of the season in Nice's UEFA Champions League qualifying round first leg, in which he scored in