Bad boy Mario Balotelli ‘confronts schoolyard bully’

Weeks after handing £1,000 to a homeless man, bad boy striker Mario Balotelli has once again shown his compassionate side, after confronting a Man City fan's schoolyard bully.

For a man experiencing his first season in the Premier League, Manchester City's Mario Balotelli sure knows how to balance the worst PR imaginable (throwing darts at a youth player because he was "bored") with the sublime (the aforementioned tramp giveaway).

According to a report in The Sun, the 20-year-old Azzuri star was leaving City's Carrington training ground when he was asking for an autograph by a truant youngster. After being informed that the child didn't want to face his classmates due to a school bully, Balotelli apparently drove the boy and his mother (why was she okay with her son skipping classes?) to the school in question to confront the bully head-on.

The report goes on to include that 'Super Mario' not only demanded to meet with the headmaster to address the issues, but the £24m star also mediated a meeting between the boy and his tormentor

A source told The Sun: 'Mario feels strongly about bullying and thinks it's out of order.

'He had no qualms about sorting the mess out as he felt the lad should not be missing out on school.'

Quite why The Sun neglected to mention details of the school in question (or why no-one involved in the incident has since came forward) is a mystery to us, as is how three people managed to squeeze into Balotelli's two-seater Maserati.

Whether or not the hot-headed youngster has in fact employed PR guru Max Clifford is unknown to us as of this writing, but the latest 'leaked' stories concerning the Italian have done wonders to improve the fiery player's public image.

We have to admit though that we sorely miss the old Balotelli... what's wrong with driving into a Italian women's prison uninvited anyway?