Balotelli scored just four times in all competitions at Anfield, a stat not helped by his relationship with the Liverpool bosses.
Mario Balotelli insists that he still has respect for Liverpool coach Jurgen Klopp despite being frozen out by the German, but has labelled his relationship with Brendan Rodgers’ ‘a disaster’, according to the Liverpool Echo.
The famously unruly Italian is scoring for fun in Ligue 1 with Nice, inspiring the unfancied Riviera outfit to the top of the French league ahead of PSG and Monaco and bringing an emphatic end to two years of turmoil at Liverpool.
Rodgers handed Balotelli a second chance in the Premier League when signing him to fill the boots of departed talisman Luis Suarez, but one of the greatest natural talents of his generation responded with a grand total of one goal in 16 top flight appearances in 2014/15 before mustering the same tally in 20 games on loan at AC Milan the following season.
And, despite agent Mino Raiola’s public hammering of Klopp, who forced the striker to train with the reserves while insisting he had no future on Merseyside, Balotelli says that his relationship with the German is incomparable to that with Rodgers.
“The worst? Not Klopp, I am not angry with him,” Balotelli told Gazzetta Dello Sport in quotes reported by the Liverpool Echo. “If he has created a certain situation at Liverpool, maybe he should have had more patience with me.
“In truth, I had the biggest disappointment with Rodgers. I enjoyed myself with him in training but our relationship was a disaster.”
Balotelli, who also admitted that he owes his career to Roberto Mancini despite the love-hate relationship with his compatriot at Manchester City, is not the first former Liverpool player to have come to blows with the Northern Irishman on Merseyside.
Former Liverpool captain Steven Gerrard revealed that Luis Suarez had endured such a difficult relationship with the current Celtic boss that he ended up searching for a move to Arsenal in 2013, as reported by the Liverpool Echo.
Suarez
Furthermore, centre-back Daniel Agger claimed in an interview with The Guardian that Rodgers refused to speak to him after he made an error against Southampton despite being forced to play through the pain barrier.
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