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Mario Balotelli has long been famous as much for his erratic behaviour as his footballing ability.
And two stories in particular perfectly sum up his time with Liverpool. Simon Hughes of the Independent tells of an instance where Balotelli interrupted a coach during training last season:
During training Colin Pascoe, then Liverpool’s assistant manager, gathered the squad in a huddle close to Melwood’s perimeter wall. Thirty or 40 yards away, Jon Flanagan was hobbling by, an injured player facing almost a year on the sidelines. Balotelli started shouting towards him for no apparent reason, “Hey, hey…” interrupting Pascoe’s flow. For that, the Italian was threatened with banishment to the changing rooms.
But Balotelli wasn't finished there. During a training match on the very same day, the striker left his teammates bemused when he turned around to launch the ball past his own goalkeeper, Brad Jones, from the halfway line. Balotelli found the own goal hilarious, his teammates not so much.
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