James Pearce of Liverpool Echo telling some fascinating stories on Mario Balotelli:
• When the Italian striker asked what a team-mate was holding, he was informed it was the new iPhone 6. Balotelli, not yet in possession of Apple’s latest smartphone, was visibly irked according to observers.
Moments later he trooped out on to the training field to take part in the warm-up but within minutes he pulled up complaining of discomfort in his hamstring. Staff sent him straight back inside to be checked out by the medics.
When the Liverpool squad returned to the dressing room at the end of the session 90 minutes later, they were surprised by what greeted them.
There was a beaming Balotelli sat in the corner, with a new iPhone 6 in his hand and a few spares boxed up next to him. One of his minions had been hastily dispatched to do some shopping. The pain in his hamstring had miraculously eased.
• They couldn’t quite believe when they found him smoking inside the grounds of Melwood.
• During a team bonding exercise he claimed not to know who Joe Allen was - despite having shared a dressing room with the Wales international for months.
• Rodgers was angered by the size of the entourage that Balotelli welcomed into the team hotel the night before Liverpool’s Champions League clash with Basel last October. They stayed until the early hours of the morning.
The manager’s mood didn’t improve after that defeat when Balotelli, who hadn’t once touched the ball inside the Basel penalty box in 90 minutes, ignored his request to go and clap the away fans.
• After making a short cameo in January’s FA Cup win at AFC Wimbledon, Balotelli shrugged off the attentions of fitness coach Ryland Morgans and refused to do the usual shuttle runs requested of him during the warm-down as he headed for the tunnel.
Кој клошар човече.
А за уште поголем од него се сметам. кога лани ова време се радував како мало дете дека сме го купиле големиот Марио Балотели.
Да даде господ оваа сезона да постигне 15 гола, Милан да ни го купи за 15 милиони, и во август месец наредна година да си ја скрши ногата.
