5 players whose careers have been plagued by off-field controversy 

#2 Mario Balotelli

Mario Balotelli has had his fair share of controversy

Mario Balotelli has developed a reputation as quite the character who is just as erratic as he is talented, prone to being provoked and unplayable on his day. The Italian is a controversy magnet, seemingly able to do something absolutely ridiculous in the most mundane of circumstances. Over the course of his career, his off the field activities have become the stuff of legend and have overshadowed his footballing talent to some degree.

Balotelli has been involved in a string of smaller incidents over his career. His reputation was, perhaps, most tarnished by an incident that occurred in 2012, when his ex-girlfriend Raffaella Fico claimed that she was pregnant and that the child was Balotelli's.

Balotelli stated that he would only assume parental responsibilities upon the successful completion of a paternity test. Things got heated when Fico accused him of being irresponsible, with Balotelli threatening legal action against her. Balotelli acknowledged that he was the father of Fico's daughter in 2014, after the completion of a DNA test.

Some of Balotelli's other exploits include firing air pistols into the air with his friends at Milan's Piazza della Repubblica, driving into a women's prison in Italy to 'have a look around,' using a youth-team player as a dartboard and setting his own house on fire with fireworks.