Pitch invaders get Mario Balotelli to pose for selfie

There are many things that we are getting heartily sick of. And you'll find pitch invaders and sporting selfies - no, any selfies - pretty close to the top of the list.

Yet somehow the presence of Mario Balotelli in this story makes it seem more palatable.

The Italian is pretty close to the top of the list of things that we never get sick of.

The pictures on this page were taken as Balotelli's AC Milan took on Premier League champions Manchester City in a pre-season friendly.

It was one of those silly games that doesn't really mean much. New players in unfamiliar roles, experimental tactics and so on always devalue this kind of encounter.

Milan even turned out wearing shirts that had been specially chosen to coordinate with Balotelli's mohican.

City ran out handsome 5-1 winners against the Serie A side, but despite the brilliance of dull-but-worthy players such as Stevan Jovetic, all anybody really cared about was what happened to the volatile Italian striker.

The answer is this: two pitch invaders stormed the turf in the dying moments of the match, sprinted half the lengthy of Pittsburgh's Heinz Field stadium, and grabbed a brilliant and memorable picture with the man himself.

Though having gone to all that trouble, it seems unbelievable that one of these two curly-haired clowns failed to look at the camera as the picture was taken.

Unlike Balotelli himself, whose brooding smirk into the lens suggest that there may yet be some truth in rumours that he will one day star as the first black James Bond.