By Alan Duffy
Mario Balotelli has looked far more positive (and effective) in recent games for Liverpool and in Thursday night’s Europa League clash with Besiktas, the Italian was once again the goal-hero for the Reds in a 1-0 home victory. However, the former Man City only scored the goal, from the penalty spot, after he had taken the ball from captain Jordan Henderson, the cheeky scamp. Here’s the whole palavar…
Henderson revealed after the game that he had wanted to take the spot-kick, while the injured Steven Gerrard then criticised Balotelli on ITV. Here’s what Stevie G had to say:
“It’s not nice to see when players are taking the ball off each other.
“Jordan Henderson should have taken that penalty. I think Mario is being a bit mischievous by stepping in front of him and going against what the manager’s planned.
“Credit to him he’s finished the penalty off but it would have been very interesting if he’d missed it. I think we’d have had a similar situation to what we saw at Everton a few weeks ago.
“For me rules are rules and codes are codes inside the dressing room and when a manager selects a penalty taker that person should take it.”
I’m not sure if national TV was the right place for Gerrard to have a go at Balotelli, to be honest.
(Video: Footytube)