Steven Gerrard labelled Mario Balotelli 'mischievous'; ...accused him of showing 'disrespect'

Steven Gerrard accused Mario Balotelli of showing "disrespect" by taking Liverpool's winning penalty against Besiktas ahead of Jordan Henderson.

Balotelli scored from the spot in Thursday's Europa League last-32 tie at Anfield to secure a 1-0 first-leg win.

That came after a disagreement with captain Henderson and Daniel Sturridge over who should take it.

Gerrard said: "Henderson is the captain and Balotelli showed Jordan a bit of disrespect there."

The midfielder, who is currently injured, was working as a pundit on ITV's coverage of the game.

Gerrard said that Balotelli was being "a bit mischievous" after the Italian striker took the ball off Henderson, who was set to to take the spot kick.

Henderson stood in as Liverpool's captain against Besiktas, and Gerrard believes he should have taken the penalty.

"Rules are rules," he said. "Credit to Mario, he's scored, but it's not nice to see when footballers are arguing. I think Jordan has handled the situation very well."

Liverpool boss Brendan Rodgers would not clarify who should have taken the penalty after the game.

Credit: BBC Sport