Manchester: Manchester City striker Mario Balotelli is warning others about the dangers of fireworks, days after he had to evacuate his house because of a fire in his bathroom following a firework mishap.
Two fire engines were called to the 21-year-old Italian's house in Macclesfield, south of Manchester, just after midnight on Saturday after a fire broke out in a first-floor bathroom caused by a firework.
Promoting a local campaign in Manchester encouraging the safe use of fireworks, Balotelli on Monday blamed the incident on a friend.
"The newspapers got the story wrong about me and the fire at my house. I didn’t set any fireworks off; it was a friend of mine."
"I didn't know anything about it until I heard the shouting coming from the bathroom," he told City's website. "Luckily, nobody was injured, and my friend apologized to me for the damage to my house."
"It was a really stupid thing for him to do, someone could have been really hurt, and I was really, really angry with him about it."
The fire began an eventful weekend for Balotelli, who revealed a T-shirt with the message "Why Always Me?" after he scored the first of his two goals in City's 6-1 rout of Manchester United on Sunday.
That led several English newspapers to rename him the "Rocket Man" on Monday. But with Bonfire Night approaching on November 5, when fireworks are traditionally set off across Britain, Balotelli had a serious message.
"People should follow the firework code. Children should not mess with fireworks," he said. "They can be very dangerous if they are not used in the right way."
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