Mario Balotelli's had the best Ligue 1 goalscoring start since Zlatan
Mario Balotelli's settling well in France. Like, really really well. He's scored six goals in five Ligue 1 matches, a tally only bettered by none other than Zlatan Ibrahimovic himself.
Ibra joined PSG in 2012, scoring seven goals in his first five Ligue 1 matches, and PSG won the title his first year in town. It's still obviously way too early to call winners this year, but Balo's goals do have Nice six points clear atop the Ligue 1 table, ahead of both AS Monaco and Zlatan's old club, PSG.
Nice beat Nantes on Sunday, with Balotelli grabbing his sixth goal of the season. Remarkably, he's got a goal in every single match this season aside from one.
Balo's new manager Lucien Favre is happy with his performances so far, but believes he still has plenty of work to do and improvement ahead of him: "He made a great run for his goal. He's very good in those sorts of situations," said Favre on the club's official website. "He had a week of complete rest and then a normal week.
"I have said it again and again: there is still a lot of work to do. Today, he did more tracking back than he had done previously. It's positive."
Balotelli's start to life in France has been even more positive than anyone expected. Zlatan Ibrahimovic is pretty quality company to keep when it comes to scoring goals, and if Balo can keep his form up, he could even see himself back in the national team, and even back in one of Europe's top teams before long.
Here's hoping.
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