Mario Balotelli unveils new ‘smoking’ celebration after lighter was thrown at him in Turkey

In the Turkish Super Liga match, Balotelli scored in the 25th minute and celebrated by picking up a lighter hurled at him by opposing fans. With the lighter in his left hand and two of his right fingers on his lips, as if he were smoking a cigar, he then pretended to light it up, blowing out an imaginary smoke from his mouth.

Balotelli then threw the lighter back to the side of the pitch and returned for the resumption of the game.

Eventually, his side, Adana Demirspor, lost to Fenerbahce by a 4-2 scoreline, with Ghana’s Alexander Djiku on the scoresheet for the winning side.

The ‘smoking celebration’ is another iconic stunt from Mario Balotelli, who invented the ‘Why Always Me’ celebration.

In a 2011 Manchester derby at Old Trafford, Mario Balotelli, then on the books of Manchester City, unveiled the celebration after scoring the opening goal for his side.

After getting City the opener, Balotelli lifted his jersey to show the inner verse, which had the inscription, ‘Why Always Me.’

Manchester City went on to win the game 6-1, but Mario Balotelli’s celebration became the major talking point of the match.

In an interview with TIME that same year, Balotelli revealed the inspiration behind the strange celebration.

“The truth is that I do not know why I always did. I made that shirt because, at that time, it was all about me—people were always talking about me,” he stated.

The Italian also spoke about how then-Manchester City kit man Lee Chapman printed the shirt for him.

“I did it for many reasons. But I’ll leave it for other people to figure out what it means. I’m sure people can work it out. Chappy, our kit man, did it for me. I told him the words, and he printed them. He is a good guy, Chappy, one of the best.”

Balotelli has scored seven goals in 11 appearances for his Turkish club in the 2023/2024 season.