Former Liverpool striker Rickie Lambert has revealed that Mario Balotelli would score own goals on purpose during training when he felt frustrated, and that he had to ask then-manager Brendan Rodgers not to put him on the same team as the Italian.
Lambert's training frustrations
Lambert, 44, who returned to Liverpool in the summer of 2014 after Luis Suarez left for Barcelona, spoke on the Straight From the Off podcast in 2021. He described Balotelli as "a good lad, childish but infectious," but said his behaviour on the training pitch was a different matter.
"I've never seen anything like it, to be honest," Lambert said. "At first, he gave everything when he played. But in training, I could tell he wasn't giving his all. He was answering Brendan [Rodgers] back and my head went with that."
Balotelli's own goal antics
Lambert added that he told Rodgers: "Don't put me on his team again," and that Steven Gerrard had said the same. A report by The Standard in August 2015, shortly before Balotelli returned to AC Milan on loan, backed up these claims. Balotelli was said to have left team-mates astonished when he scored a "jaw-dropping" goal from halfway — into his own net, past reserve goalkeeper Brad Jones, during a 10 versus 10 game.
Balotelli, now at Al-Ittifaq in the UAE, scored just four goals in 28 games for Liverpool before being sold to Nice in 2016.
