Balotelli scoring, Inter leading and racist abuse gave the new decade in Serie A an eerily familiar feel to the start of the 2010s
![History repeats itself for Balotelli and Inter at the start of 2020 in Serie A | Nicky Bandini](https://i.guim.co.uk/img/media/55866b3453dee9268b50593daf9f414b95b420dc/44_76_2474_1485/master/2474.jpg?width=1200&height=630&quality=85&auto=format&fit=crop&overlay-align=bottom%2Cleft&overlay-width=100p&overlay-base64=L2ltZy9zdGF0aWMvb3ZlcmxheXMvdGctZGVmYXVsdC5wbmc&enable=upscale&s=3470fbf66133205ad8bb656131b58287)
For Italian football, the decade began with a little bit of history repeating. It was Mario Balotelli who scored the first Serie A goal of the 2010s, and on Sunday he delivered the opening strike of the 2020s as well: spinning away from his marker in the 18th minute of Brescia’s game at home to Lazio, before dispatching Stefano Sabelli’s long pass with a first-time finish off his left boot.
Why always him? In truth, the slogan no longer feels apt. Balotelli has dazzled us only intermittently, the highs of a
Premier League win and European Championship final in 2012 obscured by too many nondescript seasons since.