Whenever there is drama, you can guarantee that Mario Balotelli is never too far away. He revels in it.
Liverpool captain, Steven Gerrard has accused Mario Balotelli of being disrespectful by taking the ball off skipper Jordan Henderson and fellow striker Daniel Sturridge to take the winning penalty in their first leg of their Europa League clash with Besiktas yesterday.
Gerrard who missed the match due to injurt added that the dressing room would have experienced another drama if the former AC milan forward had missed the penalty.
“Jordan is the captain and Mario would have seen that Jordan was on penalties and he has shown him a but of disrespect there, but he we have got away with it. If I was on the pitch, I’d have taken the penalty, that’s what would have happened. Basically Jordan Henderson should have taken that penalty and Mario has been a bit mischievous by standing in front of him and going against the manager’s plan.
“Fair play to him, he finished the penalty off, but it would have been very interesting in that dressing room if he had missed the penalty. It’s a fantastic penalty, it’s a big goal and fair play to him, but it’s more than that. Around six or seven people in the team would have wanted to take that penalty, so what happens if six or seven people are fighting over the ball around the penalty spot.
“It’s not nice to see players taking the ball off each other on a penalty. For me, rules are rules and codes are codes inside a dressing room. When a manager selects a penalty taker, that penalty taker should take it. It should have been Henderson.
“Mario was terrific when he came on and he helped to change the game in Liverpool’s favour. With the pressure on his shoulders, he slotted it away very well and it’s a big goal for us.
“Jordan handled the situation very well. He knows Mario wants the penalty really badly, Mario is desperate to get on the score sheet. He has stepped away at the right time because I don’t like to see it when players are fighting over the ball. It’s not right for the image of the game.
“At the end of the day, what’s important for myself and all the fans here is we got the win and it has put us in a very good position for next week.”
The 24 year-old prolific penalty taker couldn’t really be bothered about the reactions, slotting the ball home was the objective. He took to his instagram page to play down the situation:
“Thank you Hendo for let me take the penalty.. Stop drama now. We won that’s what it count. We are a team and expecially we are Liverpool. Come on guys.” He wrote
