Steven Gerrard has expressed his displeasure at Mario Balotelli’s
conduct during Liverpool’s 1-0 Europa League win over Besiktas on Thursday
night.
The controversial Italy international
wrestled the ball from stand-in captain Jordan Henderson before slotting home
an 85th-minute winner as the Reds earned a first-leg lead in their last-32
Europa League tie.
However, Gerrard, who missed the
match with a hamstring injury was not impressed as it’s the responsibility of
the captain to take penalties but was proud of the way in which Henderson
dealt with the situation.
Gerrard told ITV: "Jordan
should have taken the penalty. Rules are rules. It should have been Henderson.
Mario has been a bit mischievous. 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."
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