Mario Balotelli has scored just one goal in 10 appearances for Liverpool. (Reuters)
Liverpool manager Brendan Rodgers conceded yesterday that Mario Balotelli had still to prove his worth after the Italian striker’s latest lacklustre display for the Merseysiders.
Balotelli was replaced at half-time during Liverpool’s comprehensive 3-0 group stage loss at home to holders Real Madrid in the Champions League on Wednesday. At that stage Liverpool were already 3-0 behind and, to make matters worse, Balotelli was seen swapping shirt with the Spanish giants’ Pepe.
However, Rodgers insisted Balotelli—criticised by former Liverpool captain Graeme Souness for lacking a “football brain”—was working hard despite a return of just one goal in 10 appearances since his £16 million ($26 million, 20 million euros) move from AC Milan.
Balotelli’s performances have been compounded by a combination of Liverpool’s defensive problems, the ongoing absence through injury of fellow-striker Daniel Sturridge and the fact the man he was bought to replace, Luis Suarez, scored 31 goals in the Premier League last season. Rodgers said he liked players who are “different” as long as their personalities were put towards the service of the team as a whole. “The Mario Balotelli show is no different to me. He is treated like any other player,” Rodgers explained.
“We have an image of a team here, of how we play and work and how we represent the club. I like players that are different. I like individual personality in people with hair and coloured boots but as long as they don’t see themselves as an individual, that is what is important.
“They have to fit into the parameters of the team and if those players over the longer term don’t it can be difficult for them to work here. But in terms of that, he is genuinely working hard and doing his best at Liverpool.”
The Northern Irishman added: “As long as he is doing his best that is all I can ask as a coach: whether that best is going to be good enough that remains to be seen—but that is the same for every player, not just Mario.”
Rodgers was unimpressed when told of Balotelli’s shirt-swap on Wednesday and, turning to the issue yesterday, the manager said: “Any action will be kept between ourselves. We just had a conversation about the culture in this country and in particular Liverpool and that is it, matter closed.”
As well as criticising Balotelli, Liverpool great Souness said Rodgers had to shoulder some of the blame for believing he could succeed in getting more out of the striker than the top managers who had previously worked with the eccentric forward. “Roberto Mancini twice, Jose Mourinho had one look at him and very quickly said ‘I can’t work with this guy’, Cesare Prandelli said after the World Cup he made a giant mistake taking him to Brazil,” Souness said.
“What makes you (Rodgers) think you can get something different from him?” added Souness, himself a former Liverpool manager.
Balotelli’s five maddest moments
Mario Balotelli’s antics caught up with him again on Wednesday as his half-time shirt-swap with Real Madrid’s Pepe was greeted with outrage at Anfield. Here AFP looks at five earlier moments of madness that have marked the Italian out as eccentric
Bad first impression
Just days after signing for Manchester City, Balotelli hits the headlines after crashing his Audi R8 en route to the club’s training ground. Balotelli is found to be carrying £5,000 in cash at the time of the accident and when police ask why, he reportedly replies: “Because I am rich.”
Dart shame
Balotelli once again showed his lack of maturity when it emerged he threw darts at City youth team players through a training ground window in March 2011. No one was hurt in the incident and he escaped punishment.
Fireworks off the pitch
Balotelli had a run-in with the emergency services in October 2011 after a firework was set off in the bathroom of his home, triggering a fire.
The next day, he scored in the Manchester derby and celebrated by revealing a T-shirt which read: “Why always me?”
Bizarre prison break
Mario and 17-year-old brother Enock were arrested strolling through the grounds of a women’s prison in Brescia, near Milan, in October 2011.
Balotelli is said to have told police that curiosity got the better of him and “just fancied having a look”.
Banned after Parker stamp
Balotelli is charged with violent conduct by the Football Association, and subsequently handed a four-match ban, after appearing to stamp on the head of Tottenham’s Scott Parker during a Premier League match in January 2012.
