Steven Gerrard slams mischievous Mario Balotelli

Liverpool captain, Steven Gerrard believes that Mario Balotelli shouldn’t have seize the ball from stand-in captain, Jordan Henderson during their recent Europa League tie against Beskitas. The Reds needed a late penalty to secure a win over the Turkish giants at the Merseyside after Jordon Ibe appeared to have been fouled inside the box.

As Henderson stepped up to take the kick, summer arrival, Mario Balotelli moved over to him and collected the ball but despite his well taken penalty, Gerrard and by extension a good number of his teammates believed that the Italian broke the rules at the club by disrespecting his captain.

Balotteli is quite known for his excellent conversion rate of spot kicks but since the predetermined rules at Liverpool dictates that the captain (in this case Henderson) should take on the responsibility, Mario should have respected the rules. Gerrard who should have taken the kick were he on the pitch expressed disappointment in Balotelli’s behaviour and while speaking to ITV, branded the Italian striker as mischievous.

Away from the controversies, Gerrard who is seeing off his last season with Liverpool hailed Balotelli’s composure while taking the kick but noted that it is usually a sight for sore eyes when players of the same side are arguing.

Gerrard also appreciated the maturity with which Henderson handled the situation noting that it was obvious that Mario wanted to score and Jordan was right not to escalate the situation thereby walking away. While stressing the fact that Mario should not have attempted to take the ball from the captain, the midfielder wondered what brawl could have happened if 6 or 7 players also wanted to score so badly that they all tried to take the kick but despite the incident, Liverpool will make the trip to Turkey with a 1-0 advantage which might prop them for a ticket in the last 16 stage of the competition.