When we first saw that Mario Balotelli had replied to Brendan Rodgers’ joke, we took a deep breath, expecting something probably provocative and potentially outrageous from the Italian…
Earlier in the week, the Celtic boss told a packed Q&A session that his former Liverpool striker was the best player he’d ever worked with – which brought the house down.
It could be viewed as a cheap shot really, with Balotelli since enjoying success at Nice and Rodgers building somewhat of a legacy north of the border.
Thankfully, Balotelli didn’t rise to the bait, and jokingly told Rodgers that he was in fact the best manager he’s worked under, too!
Brendan Rodgers you are also the best manager I ever had???. Amazing.
— Mario Balotelli (@FinallyMario) May 3, 2017
What’s clear is that they were both very bad for each other…
Rodgers never wanted Balotelli, but with Liverpool’s failure to capture Alexis Sanchez in 2014, we eventually gambled on the controversial striker – and it failed miserably.
The Northern Irishman left at the beginning of the next season and Balotelli finally departed us permanently having scored the grand total of one Premier League goal.