Friday 20 February 2015 14:42, UK
Liverpool defender Martin Skrtel refused to be drawn into criticising Mario Balotelli after the Italian striker ignored team orders to score a winning penalty against Besiktas.
The Reds take a narrow 1-0 lead to Turkey next week after Balotelli came off the bench to score the 85th minute penalty, but he faced criticism for taking the ball off designated penalty taker Jordan Henderson.
Liverpool captain Steven Gerrard described Balotelli as “disrespectful” but Skrtel says he is only interested in the end result.
He said: “It doesn’t matter who scored the penalty, we scored it and won the game.
“It was key that we won and it’s a good thing that we didn’t concede.
“We knew before that they were a good team. They are leading the league in Turkey.”
Balotelli, a £16m summer signing from AC Milan, also moved to play down the incident, writing on Instagram: “Thank you Hendo for letting me take the penalty. Stop drama now. We won that’s what counts. We are a team and especially we are Liverpool. Come on guys.”
Liverpool head to Southampton on Sunday in a vital game in their drive towards Champions League qualification.
The game sees Adam Lallana, Dejan Lovren and Rickie Lambert return to St Mary’s after the trio’s summer transfers from Southampton to Liverpool.
The Saints are four points above Liverpool in fourth but Brendan Rodgers’ side are currently on the longest unbeaten run in the Premier League with six wins and three draws.
Liverpool have kept five clean sheets away from home this season, one more then the whole the last campaign.
Belgian goalkeeper Simon Mignolet, who was dropped before Christmas, has kept four clean sheets in the league since Rodgers reinstated him against Swansea in December.
Mignolet said: “You want to keep going if you have the momentum and confidence.
“It’s going to be a tough game. They are a very tough side, very organised and don’t concede many goals.
“We’ll try and make sure that away at Southampton we do our jobs again and get a good result.”
