Mario Balotelli was at it again as Liverpool took on Besiktas in the Europa League yesterday. After Jordan Ibe won a penalty with the game on the line, it was Balotelli, not team captain and designated penalty taker Jordan Henderson, who stepped up to take the penalty.
It turned out to be the right decision, as Mario slotted the ball home with the kind of confidence that reminds every one of just how good of a penalty taker he is.
Surprisingly, Steven Gerrard, Liverpool’s nominal captain who was out with injury, criticized Balotelli’s actions after the game, despite the fact that he had won the game.
"Fair play to him,” Gerrard said. “He finished the penalty off, but it would have been very interesting in that dressing room if he had missed the penalty. It's a fantastic penalty, it's a big goal and fair play to him, but it's more than that.”
"It's not nice to see players taking the ball off each other on a penalty. For me, rules are rules and codes are codes inside a dressing room. When a manager selects a penalty taker, that penalty taker should take it. It should have been Henderson.”
Gerrard obviously has a point, but it does seem a little petty in light of the fact that Liverpool won the game. Woulda, shoulda, coulda, rarely does anyone any good. We know that Gerrard has to keep order in the locker room, but his comments would probably have been better served had they been left in said locker room, between players, and not to the media.
