Balotelli and Lambert were team-mates at Liverpool during the 2014/15 season
Former Liverpool striker Rickie Lambert has revealed how Mario Balotelli used to score own goals in training whenever he was in a bad mood.
Balotelli joined the Reds for £16m from AC Milan in the summer of 2014, having previously played for Manchester City and Inter Milan.
The 30-year-old spent two years with the Reds, and a year on loan with AC, before departing permanently to join French club Nice on a free transfer in the summer of 2016.
And speaking about the Italian’s time with Liverpool, Lambert explained how the forward did not take training seriously.
So much so that Lambert admits he did not want to be on the same side as Balotelli in training because he would 'ruin the session' and believes Steven Gerrard also felt the same way.
He said: “He was a good lad, childish but infectious.
"But as soon as he stepped on the training pitch he became a different person. I’ve never seen anything like it, to be honest. At first, he gave everything when he played.
“But in training, I could tell he wasn’t giving his all. He was answering Brendan [Rodgers] back and my head went with that.
"The fact that he was playing in front of me didn’t bother me at first, I thought ‘I’ll get myself in’ but just seeing the way he was in training, and then he was playing, it did affect me a little bit."
Before the 39-year-old continued: "My head went with him in training and I had to go in and say to Brendan ‘don’t put me on his team again’. I think Stevie [Gerrard] had said the same."
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