Steven Gerrard criticizes Mario for against Team Rules

Liverpool captain Steven Gerrard has criticised Mario Balotelli for going against the team rules and taking the penalty – in a recent Europa league match – ahead of stand-in captain Jordan Henderson. Gerrard has missed the last few matches due to an injury and Henderson has been the captain in his absence.

It is a role at Liverpool that the captain should be in line to take the penalty.

Liverpool were awarded a late spot kick in the Europa League last 32 match against Besiktas. Balotelli may not have scored a lot of goals since his move from AC Milan in the summer, but he converted the penalty with aplomb.
After all, Balotelli has a great record of scoring from the spot. He has only missed two penalties in his entire career. However, many were not happy with the way Balotelli had an argument with Henderson in the middle of the pitch over the penalty taker.

In the end, Henderson was happy to give way to Balotelli. The former Sunderland midfielder did not show any remorse after the match, but Steven Gerrard criticised the lack of team etiquette shown by Balotelli. Brendan Rodgers also voiced the same after the match. The Italian international has two goals in his last three matches after scoring the winner against Tottenham recently.

"Jordan should have taken the penalty. Rules are rules. It should have been Henderson. Mario has been a bit mischievous.Credit to Mario, he's scored, but it's not nice to see when footballers are arguing.I think Jordan has handled the situation very well. He can see that Mario really wanted to score.Jordan walked away at the right moment and handled his post-match interview very well. Jordan is the captain and Mario showed Jordan a bit of disrespect there, but he's scored a very important goal,” said Gerrard.