Mario Balotelli chased me round my kitchen with fireworks – he nearly burnt his house down two weeks earlier

MARIO BALOTELLI once chased Micah Richards round his kitchen with fireworks.

The former Manchester City defender has revealed the incident occurred just weeks after Balotelli almost burnt his own house down.

Mario Balotelli chased Micah Richards round his kitchen with fireworksAFP

Balotelli famously set part of his house on fire by setting off fireworks indoors just days before the Manchester derby in October 2011.

He went on to score in a 6-1 win and produced his iconic “Why always me?” celebration as he revealed the message under his shirt.

Meanwhile, the Italian was later made an ambassador for firework safety.

Recalling the incident, Richards told The Rest is Football podcast: “The Balotelli fireworks story is hilarious.

“Because the story that you guys all know is the story at his own house where basically he’s setting off fireworks in his home and, I’m not exaggerating, there must have been £20-30,000 worth of damage on the house.

“If you Google that now you probably could see the damage. But what people don’t know, he came to my house a couple of weeks later and tried to set off fireworks in my house.

“He’s chasing me round my kitchen with fire. I’m like ‘are you f***ing ok in the head man? You’ve just set off fireworks in your own house and nearly burnt it down. Now you’re coming around.’

“And he’s just there looking at me, laughing like it’s normal. I’m just like this guy is mad.”

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Richards admitted Balotelli is still a ‘great guy’The Times

The pundit went on to add: “He’s just a great guy underneath. You can’t do nothing but love him. What a guy he is, I love him so much.”

Balotelli and Richards played together 36 times during their time at City, winning both the Premier League and FA Cup.