FIFA 23 FLASHBACK MARIO BALOTELLI PLAYER REVIEW - COP OR FLOP?

Fight with a bib, set off fireworks in your own bathroom and throw darts at the youth team players (don’t actually), it’s Mario Balotelli time in FIFA 23.

Playing for the Priory of… apologies I watched Da Vinci code last night… FC Sion in the Swiss league, this is his second Flashback Card in FIFA. Those who used his TOTS last year will know he is still an awful lot of fun to use in FIFA. Let’s see if this one lives up to the lineage.

The Flashback has been given for “his early years at Inter”. One presumes they aren’t referring to the time he appeared on Italian TV in an AC Milan shirt whilst still playing for Inter but we’ll have to wait for the dynamic image to find out.

Check out the card! - Mario Balotelli 88

Flashback Mario Balotelli SBC Requirements

Here are the following SBC Requirements you’ll need to complete for Mario:

#1 - Italy
Italy Player - Min 1 
Squad Rating - 83
Reward - Small Gold Players Pack

#2 - Top Form
IF Player - Min 1
Squad Rating - Min 84
Reward - Premium Electrum Players Pack

Total Cost from scratch ~ 84K
Estimated Return From Packs ~ 8k

This is the new “fun card” price for EA. Between 60k and 100k, it tends to allow you to fairly easily craft the squads. With 83/84 rated squads being required. Personally, I love this. For the grinders, it’s easy to complete and you get a fun card. For the casuals it’s easily cheap enough to not dent any war chest you’re building up for a big purchase. This is a really good price. But it also kind of had to be.

Flashback Mario Balotelli SBC In Game Analysis

I am usually one for saying I had fun using players. I didn’t this time.

I’ll be fair and start with the good. He’s incredibly strong. At 6’3 and with 99 strength it’s no surprise really but he is an absolute bully. I do wish he’d use his body a little more at times, I think that’s something that aggression can really bring to the way a player plays, but he was never pushed off the ball. 

But that was only when I could find him with it. He was almost never in the right place to receive a pass or to battle for a long ball. He barely made runs in the box unless I actively asked him to. He only has 82 attacking positioning and I just couldn’t make it work with him. And the frustration didn’t end there.

His shooting is wildly inconsistent. You know those chances you’re celebrating before they go in and then when they fly just past the post and you do a kind of slapstick look to an imaginary camera? No? Just me? Anyway, he was an absolute “nearly” merchant. Long shots, short distance, one on ones. He wasn’t bad, he did score a few but he almost scored about 10 more. Maybe that is user error, but from the reviews I’ve seen from Rank 1 players, they had exactly the same problem.

His dribbling was no comfort either. He wasn’t agile, he was super slow to react to the ball and his exits from skill moves were some of the most erratic I’ve experienced this year. 

He did bang a great free kick though so it wasn’t all bad…
 

How Does He Compare?

Honestly, I really don’t know where to start with this comparison. Balotelli is so unlinkable from a club and league perspective it’s almost unfair to compare him to anyone in a top 10 league. And outside of those leagues, he’s probably the best player in the game. 

There is a card type though where a comparison can start being made. That is the hilarious World Cup cards that only linked to their nation and other world cup cards. The two we’ll assess here are Cavani World Cup Stories and Suarez Road To World Cup (I know Suarez links to Libertadores cards but they’re about as useful as a chocolate teapot). 

Off the bat it’s a little one sided. Balotelli has 5 star skill moves compared to the 3 star skill moves of the other two. He also wins the speed battle hands down. Physically his 99 strength and 86 stamina are unbeaten too and whilst he does lose out in aggression this is probably still a tick in his column.

However, the first big flaw in this card rears its head immediately in the shooting stats. 82 Positioning is genuinely woeful. In my last article on De Ketelaere I mentioned how much of an overlooked stat this is and this card has all but confirmed this for me. He’s also the worst finisher of the three. With minor wins in shot power and penalties, shooting belongs to the Uruguayans. 

He is a solid passer however and this keeps him in the middle of the 3 but in dribbling we snag on the second bigflaw.

Balotelli reacts about as quickly as VAR. 79 reactions is terrible. And compared to the 93 and 98 reactions of the other two it leaves him floundering. With far worse composure too, even a joint highest balance stat can’t save Balotelli from being only the second best card of these 3. 

I find it unfair to really compare this card to anyone else. In terms of 5/4 attackers, you only really have 89 Baggio around this price range and he is absolutely awful. The reason I find it unfair is because it’s going to be nigh on impossible to get Mario on full chemistry. You would need a frankly obnoxious amount of Italians. 

Flashback Mario Balotelli - Cop or Flop?

This SBC has 81% upvotes and I like that. It says that a lot of the community still want to have some fun. And it is a really solid price for the card.

I have been a massive proponent of the new Chemistry system. I do think it will come into its own as we get into TOTS. But even I have to admit, this is where it falls short. Today’s comment sums that up pretty well.

Fun cards have to be just that. Fun, not mildly infuriating. There will be a moment with this card when it all comes together and he will score a great goal. He certainly has those capabilities. But even for my fairly low barrier of entry, I can’t recommend this card for you to use. 

I really wanted to love this card, it had all the hallmarks of my kind of SBC player, but unfortunately Mario just isn’t that super.

Flop

SBC Rating: 3.5/10