Gerrard slams 'disrespectful' Balotelli

Steven Gerrard accused Mario Balotelli of showing 'disrespect' for taking the penalty which earned Liverpool a 1-0 Europa League win over Besiktas ahead of Reds captain Jordan Henderson.

Balotelli tucked away the spot-kick to earn the hosts' a narrow first-leg lead, but only after an apparent disagreement with Henderson, the captain on the night, and Daniel Sturridge over who would take it.

Gerrard, who is injured, was working as a pundit for ITV for the match, and criticised Balotelli for his behaviour.

'Jordan should have taken the penalty. Rules are rules. It should have been Henderson. Mario has been a bit mischievous,' the former England captain said on ITV.

'Credit to Mario, he's scored, but it's not nice to see when footballers are arguing. I think Jordan has handled the situation very well. He can see that Mario really wanted to score. Jordan walked away at the right moment and handled his post-match interview very well.

'Jordan is the captain and Mario showed Jordan a bit of disrespect there, but he's scored a very important goal. I think six or seven players would have wanted to take that penalty so if they all say they are taking it, what happens then? Rules are in place for a reason.'

Henderson tried to play down the disagreement after the match, saying: 'I wanted the penalty, Mario felt confident and he has taken big penalties before. Everyone wants to take them. I felt confident in Mario, he has taken big penalties before and he got the nod.'

After the match Balotelli took to social media to diffuse the situation and thank Henderson for letting him take the spot kick.

'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 posted on Instagram with a picture of the pair celebrating his goal in front of the Kop.




He then added on Twitter: 'And .. Thank all of you supporters . Thanks with all my heart. You are great. Now let's think about sunday match.' [sic]

Speaking shortly after his £16million summer acquisition's arrival, Reds boss Brendan Rodgers insisted that he made it clear to Balotelli that he would not be taking penalties when Gerrard was in the team.

'He's brilliant at them - and he knows it,' Rodgers said on the situation in August. 'But Steven Gerrard's the penalty taker. Simple.'

The 24-year-old has a formidable record from the spot, not having missed one in 26 attempts for club and country until last September.

The Mario

na wa o.politics everywhere

Mtchew... What is the big deal?

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