'He was mad': Fabio Borini says he had a teammate at Liverpool who could 'disrupt all the dressing room'
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Fabio Borini has explained how Mario Balotelli was a talented player, but his attitude got in the way of his quality on the pitch at Liverpool.
Borini had a short career as part of the Reds, joining during Brendan Rodgers’ managerial tenure, in a team which featured Steven Gerrard and Luis Suarez.
Rodgers had taken the squad close to a Premier League title in the 2013/14 season, but fell towards the final hurdles of the race to Manchester City.
The Italian forward was not part of this team; instead, completing a loan spell at Sunderland.
Balotelli was one of the reasons that his fellow Italian joined the club as he urged him to experience some of the ‘most exciting’ fans.
But he did not get to have much time on the pitch at Anfield as he only took part in one full season for Liverpool before returning to AC Milan on loan.
The issue with the striker was that his behaviour on the training ground and outside of football had garnered him a reputation for being a disruptive figure to have at any club.
Photo by Andrew Powell/Liverpool FC via Getty Images
He was already an interesting feature of the league when he used to play for City, with his most memorable moment the ‘Why always me?’ celebration.
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However, when it came to performing in a red shirt, it was just not meant to be, and his impact at the club was non-existent before he left to join Nice following Jurgen Klopp’s arrival at the club.
While he was there, though, Borini explained how his character was especially on the training pitch, given the numerous stories about his antics.
READ MORE: Brendan Rodgers once revealed what he spent three hours talking to Mario Balotelli about before signing him for Liverpool
On the No Tippy Tappy Football podcast, the former player explained to Sam Allardyce what he would do in training and how he was to be around.
Borini said: “It was mad.
But again, like he would be one of the top players that I played with if it wasn’t for that side of him that obviously disrupted all his raw talent and abilities.
“He’s used to say in training when he was losing two-nil.
He said ‘No, I am just going to score three or four and we’ll win the game’.
He would literally do that in five minutes.”
In total, Balotelli played 28 games for Liverpool and only managed to score four goals, unlike his time spent on the blue side of Manchester, where in his first season, he was able to score 10.
Allardyce described the former star as a ‘fan’s favourite but a manager’s nightmare’ because of his actions off the field.
The former Sunderland player Borini said that this exact problem left Rodgers with a choice, and it was clear to see which one he decided to make.
He said: “Oh yeah.
So what are you going to do?
“Are you going to use him for that reason or disrupt all the dressing room for his behaviour during the week.”
It was never going to work out for the Italian striker on Merseyside, given the kind of character Rodgers was and his behaviour issues, but he was one of those characters fans will not forget for one second.