This controversial Balotelli Henderson incident (VIDEO BELOW) saw the former take the ball away from the latter after Jordon Ibe had won a penalty for Liverpool in their Europa League clash against Besiktas on 19th February, 2015. Balotelli successfully converted the spot kick, but was later lambasted by Steven Gerrard for showing “disrespect” to Henderson, who was Liverpool’s stand-in skipper on the evening. Daniel Sturridge was involved in the row as well
English commentary, incident starts at 9:30 duration
Non-English, Dailymotion
Balotelli said this on Instagram about the penalty row
Thank you hendo for let me take the penalty.. Stop drama now. We won that’s what it count. We are a team and especially we are Liverpool. Come on guys
Doesn’t augur well for the team, but Balotelli IS the best penalty taker in the team, and that’s a fact. Pressure time, must win, and you need your best player to take the kick. Unbelievable if BR didn’t clarify this prior to the game.
Nice to see him pull Hendo into a hug after the goal.
I’m totally cool with Balotelli being the primary penalty taker for Liverpool. However, I still think it was rude of him to simply bypass the stand-in team captain the way he did.
I think the team has to be briefed about penalty situations better next time. And Steven Gerrard needs to know when to shut his mouth, too. 😉