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WATCH: Mario Balotelli celebrates wondergoal with Instagram selfie

Marseille's opening goal in Sunday's Ligue 1 game at home to Saint-Etienne was marked by a bizarre Mario Balotelli celebration.

Mario Balotelli

Bengaluru, March 4: Mario Balotelli wrote a new chapter in his colourful career by posting a selfie video on Instagram after scoring for Marseille.

The Italy international hit a stunning scissor-kick from a corner to open the scoring in Marseille's Ligue 1 game at home to Saint-Etienne.

Balotelli struggled in the first part of the campaign with Nice, failing to score in the league and falling out of favour under head coach Patrick Vieira.

But the former Manchester City star is reborn after joining Marseille and his fourth goal for the Ligue 1 side was marked with a very memorable celebration indeed.

As he celebrated his volley, Balotelli took a phone from the cameraman behind the goal before filming the video with his laughing team-mates and posting it on his Instagram story.

The 28-year-old then carried on playing.

"Balotelli takes the pressure, he takes the limelight. He reminds me of (Zlatan) Ibrahimovic and he scored an Ibrahimovic goal," said Saint-Etienne coach Jean-Louis Gasset.

"He has brought back the public, the confidence, and many of his teammates will raise their level of play."

He was not the first player to produce a selfie-based celebration, after Roma great Francesco Totti took a picture of himself after scoring against Lazio in the capital-city derby in 2015.

Marseille doubled their advantage nine minutes later through a Thauvin penalty and closed out the win with ease.

Rudi Garcia's men have now taken 13 points from their last five league matches to leapfrog Saint-Etienne into fourth, just five points adrift of Lyon in the race for the third and final UEFA Champions League spot.

(With Agency inputs)

Story first published: Monday, March 4, 2019, 13:45 [IST]
Other articles published on Mar 4, 2019