Mario Balotelli accused of rape, claims to be the victim of an extortion attempt

Forward Mario Balotelli is in a dark story. The international with 34 selections with the Squadra azzurra was accused of rape, for facts that date back to the summer of 2017, when he was in the Nice jersey. At that time, "SuperMario" met a young woman who was spending her vacation in the city in the south of France. After exchanging their phone number, they decided to meet again in a nightclub in the city, while the player celebrated that night his goal against Ajax in the qualifying round for the Champions League (1-1 ). The one who passed by Marseille would have asked the age of his new meeting, which would have lied to him. The two then allegedly had intimate relationships. These are the facts as told by the Italian media Il Giornale di Vicenza , taken up by Nice-Matin.

The young woman's version

A few weeks after these events, the young woman, who was in fact going towards her 17 years, would have asked through her lawyer for money (100,000 €) to the current player from Brescia, in Serie A. Under sentence to prosecute him for "sexual violence". Now the two sides have two diametrically opposite versions of the facts. The vacationer says that the player had taken advantage of alcohol to push her to have a relationship. But "he did not get it because of my refusal", initially, according to his statements in the complaint filed, as reported by the transalpine media Corriere del Veneto .

In the second part of the evening, the player and the teenager would have found themselves on the private beach of the club, where Balotelli would have, still according to the young woman, attempted to rape her. She then decided to file a complaint on January 15, 2018. As proof, she brought back to the investigators a recording in which we could hear her voice saying: "I asked you to stop". And a male voice that responds, "I never forced anyone. When I saw that it hurt you, I immediately stopped. ”

Balotelli's version

A few days before his accuser, on December 22, 2017, the footballer who passed through Liverpool and Manchester City also filed a complaint. He denounces an attempted extortion. Before that, he would have explained to his lawyers that a young girl and her mother asked him for half a million euros to be silent about a brief sexual relationship. A sum then reduced to 100,000 €. He gives his version of the facts: in his long complaint of 7 pages, he explains that the holiday maker had approached the player after having recognized him, and that they would then have exchanged via the Instagram network to meet again. The footballer would then have asked his age, which she would have lied to him, by sending an identity document from one of his cousins, adults.

They would have met with the girl's friends. That evening, the two concerned would only have a simple car ride. But still according to Balotelli, she would have continued to send him messages, to meet again in a nightclub in Nice: "As soon as she arrived, she started to hint at me, she rubbed herself, sat on me. We kissed but I saw that everyone was looking at us and I felt embarrassed, ”said the sportsman in his report established with his lawyers. Before continuing: "We continued to kiss and we started another relationship, but she said she felt bad and so I stopped."

The divisive Italian attacker will launch into a legal battle which will determine the truth. Anyway, Mario Balotelli should not come out of this story unscathed, given the gravity of these accusations. Due to its popularity, "SuperMario" will undergo, like the young woman, a particularly strong media pressure. A preliminary hearing is scheduled for March 24 in Vicenza, Italy.

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