Mario Balotelli brands Liverpool legend Jamie Carragher a 'wonderful hater' on Twitter after free transfer to Nice

Carragher won two FA Cups and three League Cups during his 17-year career on Merseyside

Samuel Stevens
Sunday 04 September 2016 07:22 EDT
Comments
Mario Balotelli is revealed as a Nice player
Mario Balotelli is revealed as a Nice player (Getty)

Your support helps us to tell the story

From reproductive rights to climate change to Big Tech, The Independent is on the ground when the story is developing. Whether it's investigating the financials of Elon Musk's pro-Trump PAC or producing our latest documentary, 'The A Word', which shines a light on the American women fighting for reproductive rights, we know how important it is to parse out the facts from the messaging.

At such a critical moment in US history, we need reporters on the ground. Your donation allows us to keep sending journalists to speak to both sides of the story.

The Independent is trusted by Americans across the entire political spectrum. And unlike many other quality news outlets, we choose not to lock Americans out of our reporting and analysis with paywalls. We believe quality journalism should be available to everyone, paid for by those who can afford it.

Your support makes all the difference.

Mario Balotelli has branded Liverpool legend Jamie Carragher a “wonderful hater” and a “bad player” after the former defender celebrated his Anfield departure last week.

Italy international Balotelli finally left Liverpool to join Nice on a free transfer after spending the entirety of last season on loan at AC Milan, where he scored one goal in 20 appearances, prompting Carragher to say “free is still paying over the odds”.

Carragher won two FA Cups and three League Cups during his 17-year career on Merseyside as well as lifting the Champions League in 2005, along the way to making 737 appearances.

But Balotelli, who was fiercely unpopular with several prominent former Liverpool players, replied in kind when Carragher criticised his performances for the club on social media.

The 26-year-old wrote: “Jamie Carragher, bad player, wonderful hater @Carra23 , who cares”.

Also posting a picture of golden trophy carrying the message “best hater” and featuring a famous picture of his own goal celebration, Balotelli's brazen tweet received over 23,000 retweets in 24 hours.

The former Manchester City forward joined the Reds from Milan in 2014 for £16m - chiefly to replace Uruguayan striker Luis Suarez – but scored just one league goal during his debut season and was later loaned back to Italy.

The 26-year-old's agent Mino Raiola also criticised Liverpool. He said: "Mario has been exemplary. He never complained about training alone. To say that it was wrong of [Jurgen] Klopp would be an understatement. He was a piece of s*** about it.”

Join our commenting forum

Join thought-provoking conversations, follow other Independent readers and see their replies

Comments

Thank you for registering

Please refresh the page or navigate to another page on the site to be automatically logged inPlease refresh your browser to be logged in