The fire-wrecked mansion Mario Balotelli almost burned down when he let off fireworks indoors

Mario Balotelli

*The blaze back in 2011 gutted the former Manchester City player's bathroom, and three years later pictures of the damage have finally emerged.

The damage in figures is about £400,000 done by footballer Mario Balotelli's notorious firework stunt, which nearly burned his mansion down.

The Liverpool player, who was with Manchester City at the time, says a friend let off rockets in his bathroom causing the fire. The blaze back in 2011 caused a huge amount of damage to the £7,500-a-month house he rented in Mottram St Andrew, Cheshire.

A Section of the Interior in wreck

Speaking after the incident in 2012, Balotelli said: “I was bored with my friends so I got a bin, a metal one, and put fireworks inside.”

“But nothing was gonna happen, right, so I left the room and I left the fireworks.”

He continued: “I walk out and then my friend go in the room and start screaming blah blah blah and the fireworks were going off and they put the fireworks on the toilet.”

“The curtain caught fire, but just the toilet was lost.”

Ten fire fighters tackled the fire at Balotelli's four-bedroom home. He no longer lives at the property, which suffered severe smoke damage with the bathroom totally gutted.

The incident happened in the early hours on the eve of Manchester City's top-of-the-table derby clash at Old Trafford in October 2011. The player and his friends were able to escape unhurt after fleeing the fire at 1am.