Mario
Balotelli has become the unlikely new face of a new firework safety campaign just
three days after his house was set on fire by a firework prank that backfired.
The
Manchester City striker's home went up in flames at the weekend after a
firework was let off in a bathroom, earning him the nickname 'Rocket Man'.
But Balotelli has insisted that the
incident was down to a friend's blunder - and thrown his weight behind a new firework
safety campaign, www.safe4autumn.com.
"The
newspapers got the story wrong about me and the fire at my house. I didn't set
any fireworks off, it was a friend of mine," explained the accident-prone
21-year-old.
"I
didn't know anything about it until I heard the shouting coming from the
bathroom," he added.
"Luckily,
nobody was injured, and my friend apologised to me for the damage to my house.
It was a really stupid thing for him to do, someone could have been really
hurt, and I was really, really angry with him about it.
"They
can be very dangerous if they are not used in the right way. People should
follow the firework code."
The
firework accident was just one of a string of incidents that have dogged
Balotelli throughout his career - and prompted him to wear a t-shirt crying
"Why always me?" which he revealed after scoring the opening goal in
the Manchester Derby at the weekend.
Find out
more about Mario Balotelli's misadventures since he moved to the Premier League just 14 months ago,
including the times he:
- Threw darts at a City youth team player because he was bored
- Took a tour of a notorious gangland district in Naples in the company of mafia chiefs
- Discovered that he was allergic to grass