Friday, 20 February 2015

Balotelli has history of fighting with team-mates over penalties... watch as Zanetti has to pull him away from Eto'o as they were playing for Mourinho's Inter

Mario Balotelli stole the headlines against Besiktas on Thursday when he fought off team-mates Jordan Henderson and Daniel Sturridge to take the winning penalty.
With the scores level after 84 minutes, Jordon Ibe was fouled in the box and despite protestations from both Henderson and Sturridge, Balotelli took the ball and scored from the spot.
Speaking on ITV, Gerrard said: 'Basically Jordan (Henderson) should’ve taken it.

'I think Mario’s been a bit mischievous by stepping in front of him and going against what the manager has planned before the game.'
But for those who watched the Italian forward during his days at Inter Milan, this wasn't a surprising move. Balotelli attempted a similar tactic with Samuel Eto'o in a game against Palermo in 2009.
When a penalty was awarded, a teenage Balotelli tried to take the ball off of Eto'o, who was Inter's established penalty taker at the time.
Unfortunately for the enigmatic forward, his status in that squad didn't carry as much clout and he lost out to the Cameroonian, having to be dragged away by Javier Zanetti.
Needless to say, Balotelli did not join in the celebrations after Eto'o scored. 
Henderson, though, proved himself to be the bigger man and praised his team-mate after the game.
He said: 'I wanted the penalty but Mario felt confident. He’s taken big penalties before and it was great penalty in the end and a big goal for us.
'Of course everybody wanted to take it, but Mario’s taken big penalties before and he got the nod.'


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