Brendan Rodgers says Mario Balotelli was RIGHT to take Liverpool penalty against Besiktas

Brendan Rodgers has cut through the furore surrounding Mario Balotelli, by insisting he was RIGHT to take Thursday night's match-winning penalty against Besiktas.

The Italian was branded “disrespectful” by club captain Steven Gerrard when he snatched the ball from Jordan Henderson, and converted from the spot to give Liverpool a 1-0 lead in their Europa League tie.

Gerrard was working as a TV pundit and also accused his team-mate of being mischievous and going against team codes, but the manager attempted to put the argument to bed yesterday, when he insisted Balotelli did the right thing.

And Rodgers also explained that there is now a clear pecking order at the club, which will see Steven Gerrard take the penalties when he's on the pitch, and if not, then Balotelli will assume responsibility. If both are not playing, then stand in skipper Henderson will be nominated.

Steven takes the penalty, after that if Mario is on the field he takes the penalty. If none of them are on, then Jordan was the nominated taker,” he explained.

“I have said that Mario is second behind Steven. He came onto the pitch so he was able to take it.

"If neither are on, then you have to nominate someone and that was Jordan. If the three are on the pitch, then you have those two as your top two.”

Rodgers feels the problems arose on Thursday night, simply because he had to nominate a taker because both Gerrard and Balotelli were not starting the game, and there was no guarantee the Italian would get on.

Because Henderson was the skipper and nominated taker, then he initially took the ball when the spot kick was awarded.

But Rodgers explained that when Mario said he was up for the task of taking it, then his captain relented because of the Italian's impeccable record from the spot.

“Steven and Mario are the top two penalty takers, but obviously neither of them were on the pitch at the start so you have to nominate someone,” said the Reds boss.

“Jordan was nominated, but when we had a penalty Mario had come onto the field.

“So Jordan, being someone with responsibility and trust, gave the penalty to Mario so there was no issue. There was a little bit of a kerfuffle around it because he wanted to make sure Mario was happy to take it, but that was it really.”

Source : http://www.mirror.co.uk/sport/football/news/brendan-rodgers-says-mario-balotelli-5198969