After a lackluster performance from summer signing Mario Balotelli during Liverpool's 3-0 home loss to Real Madrid on Wednesday, one which garnered a lot of criticism on Twitter, the Italian striker could now be facing punishment from his club.
Balotelli was seen swapping shirts with Real Madrid defender Pepe at half-time during their clash with the defending champions, at Anfield.
The 24-year-old Azzurri ace was blasted for this move, with former Liverpool captain Phil Thompson calling his actions “disgraceful and disrespectful”, whilst Liverpool legend Graeme Souness insisted: “In my day we would have nailed him for some of the ways he reacts on the pitch."
The club's manager Brendan Rodgers later revealed that Balotelli, who after being substituted during the interval failed to come out of the dressing room for the remaining 45 minutes, will be facing a fine.
In similar fashion, the 41-year-old Irish boss was not pleased with Mamadou Sakho and Philippe Coutinho for swapping shirts with Chelsea players during the break in the two sides' clash back in December.
Both of the Liverpool players were hit with fines, and when asked whether their £16m acquisition will face the same treatment, Rodergs stated: “Yes, and it’s exactly the same. We had an incident last year and it was something that was dealt with internally. It’s not something that I stand for, if you want to do that do it at the end of the game, and I will deal with it.”
"It's something that doesn't happen here and shouldn't happen here," the Liverpool boss added.
Balotelli slammed for swapping shirts with Real Madrid defender Pepe during halft-time in Liverpool's 3-0 loss
Brendan Rodgers later revealed that the Italian striker will most probably be slapped with a fine for his decision to trade jerseys with the Portuguese defender
The former Swansea City manager, who led the Reds to a second-place finish in the English Premier League last season, hinted that his reasoning behind removing Balotelli off the pitch for Adam Lallana was due to the Italian's lack of effort.
“It was purely tactical," Rodgers stressed.
“I felt we needed more movement centrally to occupy the centre halves. Adam came on and he was tireless.
“For us at Liverpool that’s the minimum here, you need to work and press, and Adam came on and did that really well, and Raheem Sterling, even in a position that was alien to him, worked incredibly hard.”
After the match came to an end, "Super Mario" was later spotted holding on to Pepe's shirt, wrapped inside a plastic bag.
SPOTTED: Balotelli was seen holding on to Pepe's jersey even after the match had ended
