Mario Balotelli Gun Photo: World Cup Player Shares Shotgun Picture With "Haters"
Mario Balotelli has had enough of his haters.
Last week, Balotelli, who plays for AC Milan, as well as Italy, posted a photo of himself holding a gun at the camera, along with a message to those who have caused him grief.
According to a report by BBC News, Balotelli referred to the photo, which has since been removed from Instagram, as "a big kiss to all the haters."
In response to Balotelli's gun photo, AC Milan vice-president Adriano Galliani released a statement.
"I have my own ideas about social networks and I've tried many times but our lawyer has always stopped me, saying that it would violate individual rights," he said. "In contracts it's written what players can and cannot do, but we can't do anything regarding their private lives. We do it vocally but that's not enough.''
Another controversy to come out of the World Cup was Luis Suarez's attack on Italy's Giorgio Chiellini. During Uruguay's match-up with Italy, Suarez bit the shoulder of Chiellini, leading to his ejection from the game. Shockingly, this wasn't Suarez's first offense when it came to biting his opponents. In April 2013, while playing for Liverpool, Suarez bit the arm of Branislav Ivanovic.
There was also a physical altercation between Brazil's Neymar da Silva Santos Júnior and Croatia's Luka Modric. During Brazil's World Cup opener, da Silva Santos Júnior reportedly elbowed Modric in a deliberate manner, which many thought should resulted in his being ejected. Instead, he spent a mere 27 minutes on the sideline.