Scott Brown was tough as nails on a football pitch. He never proclaimed to be a hard man, but the legendary Celtic skipper did give off that aura by shaving his head throughout his playing career. Then there was the iconic thousand-yard stare in the tunnel before matches – a psychological tactic used to unnerve opponents before games.
The shaven-skulled midfielder was never far from a wind-up either. Brown was a fierce competitor on the pitch but wasn't shy in dishing out some scathing words in the heat of the battle. He rattled more than a few rivals over the years, but one player gave the 40-year-old a taste of his own medicine in a Champions League showdown. Fittingly, it was ex-Man City hero Mario Balotelli, one of football's most eccentric personalities.
Brown recalls Balotelli's chilling threat
Asked if any opponent ever got under his skin, Brown said: "Yeah, Mario Balotelli. We played Milan away from home and I knew he was a good player. I knew he had a little switch that could trigger at any point in time. I remember going, 'I'm going to have him'.
"There was a tackle about 20-25 minutes into the game and I've munched him about 30 yards out – almost touched the ball. He stood over me and he was saying, 'You will not leave Italy unless it's in a body bag'. And I was like... 'I've not had that said to me before, so I'm not really sure if it's true or not but the mafia over here could probably do that so, gonna help us big man?'"
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