Even though it sounded like a bit of tabloid jibberish from the off, Mario Balotelli’s alleged incident with Wolverhampton Wanderers defender George Saville continues to make waves in the media despite the fact that no one will admit it happened. Things happen that people won’t fess up to for whatever reason all the time, but in this case, there really is nothing doing — something Wolves boss Kenny Jackett is quick to back up.
“I can’t even remember a 50-50 between Balotelli and Saville,” he told the Express and Star when quizzed on whether or not the Italian striker clashed with the former Chelsea midfielder. “Declan Weeks pinged the ball off him a few times but then Balotelli showed some fantastic pieces of skill to go past some of our lads as well. I can’t really think of an incident where him and Saville clashed, if I’m being truthful. Balotelli was substituted, but not after any particular tackle or incident.”
Adam Lallana scored the only goal of the behind closed doors friendly between the two sides as the majority of Liverpool’s squad jetted off to represent their respective countries over the international break. Although the former Southampton capatain’s return to the pitch should have been the real story, pictures showing Balotelli surrounded by team-mates and Saville holding his head quickly morphed into a whale of a tale leading to rumours that the controversial forward was substituted soon after — another point Jackett contests.
“It looked like he was always going to come off after an hour, but he went on until maybe 70 minutes. It was Colin Pascoe (Liverpool assistant manager) shouting to the player, who was happy to stay on” he explained before going on to question how the picture was even taken. “It was an unusual situation because there’s heavy fencing all around their training ground and you can see someone appear from time to time – they must be up on a ladder or something. But football is big news and it’s really popular and they have just signed Mario Balotelli, so you can see people are naturally inquisitive and they see over the fence.”
