Mario Balotelli Shines in Nostalgia: Marks First Serie A Appearance in Four Years with A Yellow Card

Andrea Pinamonti scored crucial goal in 79th minute as Gea earned an important 1-0 victory over Parma at Ennio Tardini in a tightly fought Serie A battle on vember 4, 2024. Parma had 55% possession and tried 13 shots, but y missed target; Gea got seven attempts on goal. Parma stayed 14th in rankings with only nine points, hence ir hardships were more severe as y lost ir fourth straight defeat. Gea, on or hand, ascended to 17th position, refore making a significant victory as y battled relegation. This marked one of Gea's biggest days in football history as ‘Super Mario,’ aka Mario Balotelli, made his debut for club in Serie A. 

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Mario Balotelli is back in Serie A after debuting for Gea against Parma

Mario Balotelli made his first Serie A appearance in four years when he came on as a late substitute in Gea’s 1-0 win over Parma on Monday and earned a yellow card within five minutes.

Balotelli came on in 86th minute and was booked in injury time for a foul.

former Italy international signed with relegation-threatened Gea last week, having last played in Italy’s top division with hometown club Brescia in 2019-20.

Parma’s winless streak reached nine games with loss, even though host had best of first half with Valentin Mihaila and Anas Haj Mohamed coming close to opening scoring.

But Gea took control after break as Morten Thorsby had a goal disallowed after 49 minutes and Andrea Pinamonti hit post shortly after. Pinamonti scored winner with 11 minutes remaining when he slotted home rebound from Jeff Ekhator’s low shot.

It was Gea’s first win since beating Monza on Aug. 24 and moves it off bottom of standings and into 17th place. Parma is 15th.

Also, Empoli earned its first home win of Italian league season after a goal two minutes into second half from Pietro Pellegri was eugh to beat Como 1-0.

on-loan Tori striker took advant of poor defending before driving into penalty box and scoring from an angle.

It was Empoli’s first goal at home this season. club has scored only eight times in 11 matches but is still in 11th place in Serie A thanks to a strong defense that has conceded just nine times.

Como stayed in 16th.

(AP)