• How would you compare your Champions League squad to the current Liverpool squad?

I must be honest; this current squad is better definitely. When we won the Champions League in 2005, we were not favourites at all, we were underdogs. 

When you think about the teams we had to defeat to win the Champions League such as Juventus, Chelsea, and AC Milan they were all really top teams.

This current squad knows they are one of the best teams in the world, and I am not saying that because I am an ex-Liverpool player, but because it’s a fact. They have already won the Champions League and won the club’s first league title in over 30 years.

They have a great manager in Jurgen Klopp and have everything it takes to be the best team in the world.

• What was it like playing with Steven Gerrard and how do you rate him with other great European midfielders?

When I signed for Liverpool in 1999, Stevie was beginning to show his amazing potential. It was great to watch him grow from a young lad to the Liverpool captain; at his best he was definitely one of the three best players in European Football.

It just wasn’t about his leadership ability; it was about his style also, he had everything to his game. He was physical, aggressive, could shoot from range and dribble past players.

But ultimately Stevie was an unbelievable leader, he has great heart, a fighting heart. We knew when he was playing, we could defeat anyone. 

Gerrard was irreplaceable for us.

• You talk about his heart and passion; did you ever envision him going into management? 

Yes, I could, you always saw Stevie thinking about the game. He always knew what the team needed in the moment, and everyone respected him a lot.

• Do you see him one day replacing Jurgen Klopp and becoming the manager of Liverpool?

It’s going to be difficult for anyone to replace Jurgen Klopp at Liverpool, but if it is going to be anyone definitely Stevie G. Liverpool fans would welcome Stevie into the managerial role with open arms if Klopp had to be replaced.

Stevie did really well at Rangers, and he started well at Aston Villa. I would love to see him become the manager of Liverpool one day. 

• Aside from the Gerrard’s and the Alonso’s, was there anyone in that 2005 Champions League winning side that did not get the credit they deserved?

It’s a difficult question but I would say Didi Hamman. Sometimes Didi wasn’t appreciated by the fans, but what he did was keep the balance in our side, like what Fabinho does currently.

I think Fabinho is fantastic, but for our team Didi Hamman had that role. He always kept the balance in our side, he came on as sub in the second half of the 2005 Champions League final and he showed up.

He matched up against Kaka and stopped him playing which was key to helping us win that final.

• When you went in at half time down 3-0 to AC Milan, what is going through your mind at this point?

I was very disappointed, but also, I was hungry. It was tough to go into halftime 3-0 down as we should have had a penalty in the first half when it was 1-0 because Alessandro Nesta controlled the ball with his hand.

Then on the counterattack we conceded a second goal. We were shocked, arguing with the referee and then the third goal went in shortly after.

So, I was very disappointed, we made a couple of mistakes in the first half, but we did not deserve to be 3-0 down.

When I got back to the dressing room everyone was speechless, nobody was talking, we felt that this could be our only chance in some of our careers to win the Champions League, we prepared for the game for 10 days and conceded after 60 seconds, so it was tough.

Rafa Benitez gave us 5 minutes to cool off and then he spoke to us. Everything he told us in that dressing room at half-time happened in the second half. It was a masterpiece.

He told us that we are going to change the system to a 3-5-2. Risse will be on the left, and I will be on the right side, I had never played that position in my life, but it did not matter.

Rafa also put Steven Gerrard upfront, so he could be in the box and so we could put more crosses in. Straightaway from a cross in the second half Stevie scored.

Rafa also told us to shoot from distance if we had a chance. I then took a chance, and it went in, just like that it is 3-2.

I do not know how Benitez saw it, but everything he said happened.

• What did the fans do in providing a boost for your side?

The fans played a very important role. We had more than 40,000 fans in Istanbul. They were singing at half time, when we came out for second half and heard them sing YNWA it gave us a real boost.

We were low on confidence, and prepared well tactically for the second half, but hearing the sing was important for us, as they were still there for the team.

So, the team said let us try to score as early as possible, and then we scored in 6 minutes.

• When Gerrard scored, what were you thinking in that moment?

It was great, because literally a few minutes earlier we nearly conceded a 4th goal. 

When he scored and made that gesture to the fans it gave our whole team a boost.

• The ball comes to your feet, you hit the shot and it goes in and then what?

I was so surprised. I called for the ball from Didi, and I was just thinking in my head let me have a good first touch and try to hit it. That was all I could do in the position.

I did not score too many goals outside of the box, but I hit it sweetly and knew it was a good shot. The keeper saw it a bit late and was shocked by it.

I was screaming, nobody was behind me when I was celebrating, only Milan Baros came to me to give me a hug. I was thinking where are the others?

Baros told me they are in our half, ready to start the game again. After the second goal, I knew we were going to get the third because we had all the momentum.

• When Dudek made that save from Shevchenko, at that point did you think it was going to be Liverpool’s night?

Yes, I did after that save. However, to be honest in extra time Milan were playing much better, Ancelotti had made some changes and we had given a lot of effort to fight back from 3-0 down.

Because of this, I remember Stevie coming back to play in midfield, and then he finished the game at right back!

We knew we had a great chance on penalties, because when Dudek made that save with about three minutes to go, I knew it was written in the stars for us and we all had the same feeling. 

We were happy when we finished the extra period at 3-3 and we were going to penalties. AC Milan did not want to go to penalties, they tried everything to score the winning goal, but Dudek denied them.

• You scored your penalty in the shootout, how much preparation did you do in the 10 days leading up to the final?

Sometimes after training we might take 1 or 2 penalties. We didn’t really prepare for penalties; we were just confident we would beat Milan in the shootout. 

When it comes to the shootout its completely different to taking them in training due to the factors at play. When the shootout comes you are very fatigued, and the pressure is completely different.

It is good to work on your penalties in training, as it will help you figure out different technicalities about penalty taking such as your run up. However, when you are in the environment of a penalty shootout, the pressure is immense.

• Did you volunteer to take a pen, or did Rafa ask who wants to take one?

Rafa selected two players for normal time if there was a penalty. However, when it came to the shootout, he was asking the players who wants to take one? 

At that time, I was 32 years old and had played for 10 years for the national team. I was an attacking player and was looking around and seeing only the defenders offer to take a penalty.

But I told myself, I had already scored, and it is chance to score a penalty in the Champions League final, you must do it.

Rafa asked me do I want to take one, and I said yeah. Then he put me down to take the fourth penalty, I was shocked and in that moment the pressure is completely different now. 

I was so nervous.

• The fourth penalty is the tough one as they normally say?

Yeah, but the shootout was favourable for us. Serginho and Pirlo missed Milan’s first two penalties. I knew we were going to win; I was confident.

• Who will make the final of the Champions League and ultimately win it?

I hope it is going to be Liverpool, but Villareal have showed how good they are as they have already beaten Juventus and Bayern. They have surprised me a lot

I was speaking to Luis Garcia last weekend about Villarreal and hopefully Liverpool will beat them.

I do not want to play against Manchester City again, I am going for a classic Champions League tie in the final between Liverpool and Real Madrid.

That would be a great tie in Paris.

• Can Liverpool do the quadruple, if so, where would Klopp sit in the Liverpool’s greatest manager argument?

I think he is already one of the greatest Liverpool managers ever as he has already won the Champions League and the Premier League.

However, if Liverpool do the quadruple, they will definitely go down as one of the greatest teams in the history of football for sure.

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• Mario Balotelli is a brilliant but flawed talent who has failed to fulfil his potential 

• The forward’s career high points have been interspersed with plenty of controversies 

• Regardless, his earnings from football have made him an extremely wealthy individual 

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Born Mario Barwuah in Palermo, Sicily on August 12th, 1990, the future superstar was placed in foster care aged three to the Balotelli family, who resided in Brescia, northern Italy.

Obsessed with football from a very young age, Mario’s rare talent was soon spotted by scouts and when snapped up by Inter Milan as a teen and widely hyped he appeared to have the world at his feet.

Yet all-too-briefly his star shone, with moments of brilliance routinely eclipsed by disciplinary issues and periods of anonymity.

Here was a genuinely impactful forward who could exasperate to the point of annoyance with a story once imparted by his ex-Inter boss Jose Mourinho summing up his reckless nature.

On picking up a yellow card in the first half of a crucial game, the Italian international was repeatedly told during the break to avoid any further incidents as Inter were enduring an injury crisis and needed him on the pitch.

Balotelli listened, he nodded, then got sent off a minute into play resuming.

Such moments of hot-headedness unquestionably stopped the player from fulfilling his true potential at Inter, Manchester City, AC Milan, and later Liverpool but even if that really disappoints, nobody can make a claim that Mario Balotelli wasn’t box-office.

How Much Is Mario Balotelli Worth?

Even a career blighted by controversy and setbacks has netted ‘Super Mario’ a fortune in the region of £30m, most of which is made up of signing-on fees and high-end salaries.

On joining Manchester City in 2010, the forward enjoyed a significant bump in his pay packet bringing home £111,750 per week before bonuses.

Around this time too, Balotelli became a full international with Italy and won the prestigious Golden Boy award given to the most promising young player in Europe. Both feats will have hugely boosted his commercial appeal.

As evidenced by a €5m a year deal struck with Nike that expired in 2013 and prompted Puma to step in, reputedly doubling his fee to promote their boots and other sporting merchandise. It is a lucrative collaboration that continues to this day.

Endorsements aside, Balotelli’s inability to settle at any one club may have flattened his career curve but it’s certainly done no harm to his bank balance.

His return to the peninsula in 2013 saw the player collect £170,000 a week at AC Milan, a figure that only marginally decreased on joining Liverpool a season later. A bumper signing-on fee would have more than compensated for any dip in earnings.

On the pitch, Balotelli regrettably failed to set Anfield alight though our Premier League predictions tip the current crop of strikers to fare much better, helping bring silverware to Merseyside.

Still, Balotelli was rewarded soon after with another profitable move, this time to Nice in France’s Ligue Un.

Such bountiful pay-offs has afforded Balotelli to both invest wisely and enjoy the fruits of his gains.

He has a property portfolio that includes a £4.7m mansion set in Cheshire, England complete with helipad and an obligatory indoor pool.

He also owns a fleet of luxury sportscars, including a Bentley Continental GT and a Ferrari 458 Spider, each worth nearly a quarter of a million pounds.

Career Highlights

Imagine being able to go back in time to 4.45pm on May 13th 2012. At the Etihad Stadium in Manchester, City are 2-1 down to QPR in a game they desperately need to win in order to secure a first league title for 44 years. Just imagine the live betting odds on the Blues triumphing as the game ekes past its final minute of regulation time. 
In the event of course, Edin Dzeko nodded home an injury-time equaliser and then moments later, Balotelli slid to set up Sergio Aguero, remarkably the Italian’s only assist all season. 
Aguero’s last-gasp winner led to one of the most famous Premier League celebrations as the Argentine peeled away in disbelief, as the world tilted on its axis.
Elsewhere, another goal celebration has become synonymous with the player, this time with Balotelli taking centre stage. 
After opening the scoring in a Manchester derby just 24 hours after setting fire to his bathroom by accidentally setting off a firework, he lifted up his shirt to reveal a printed message asking, ‘Why always me?’ It was an iconic moment that endeared himself to a nation and rather fabulously, Balotelli later backed a fireworks safety campaign ahead of Bonfire night. 
It has not all be hijinks and drama, however. There has also been some mature and superb football played along the way. So impressive was Balotelli during the 2012 Euros, as the Azzurri reached the final, he was included in UEFA’s Team of the Tournament. Let’s not forget either that the 31-year-old – who currently plies his trade in Turkey with lowly Adana Demirspor – has won four league titles in two different countries.

Mario Balotelli Stories

Yet as much as his glimpses of excellence have entertained, they pale to the folklore that has grown around this enigmatic and unique individual.

Stories that may or may not be true from his two stints in England include Balotelli driving into a women’s prison because he wanted to ‘look around’.

There was a heavy fine inflicted on him after he used some of Manchester City’s youth players as target practice while playing darts outdoors.

Reputedly, the player was once stopped by the police who discovered £25,000 on his person. When asked why he possessed such an amount he replied matter-of-factly, ‘because I’m rich’.

He was also rumoured to be in the habit of paying for everybody’s petrol when filling up his latest supercar while he was also once seen handing out £50 notes to strangers in Manchester city centre.

Perhaps the most charming tale involves his mother arriving from Italy and instructing Balotelli to buy essentials from John Lewis. The scamp arrived back home with a giant trampoline, a Vespa scooter and a Scalextric set.

It has not all been light-hearted antics, however. His time at Brescia came to an acrimonious end when he refused to turn up for training while going back to his earlier days, to engineer a move away from Inter, the youngster wore an AC Milan shirt on live television.

What’s the betting this deeply flawed but seriously box-office talent does something else crazy before his career sadly draws to a close.

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• Leicester recorded the biggest away win in Premier League history in 2019

• Manchester United had held the record for 20 years

• Read below for the 12 biggest away wins in Premier League history

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The biggest away wins in Premier League history have swung Premier League top scorer odds.

Many of these emphatic victories have featured several goals from the league’s greatest strikers, but others have been more of a team-wide effort. We’ve compiled the 12 biggest away wins in Premier League history.

Sheffield United 0-6 Arsenal, March 2024

After consecutive 5-0 losses to Aston Villa and Brighton at home, Sheffield United knew they were in trouble with a red-hot Arsenal coming to Bramall Lane.

Arsenal were on a six-match winning run in the Premier League, during which they had scored 25 goals. Coming into this match after thumping West Ham 6-0 and beating Burnley 5-0 in their last two away matches, the Gunners were ruthless from the first whistle.

Martin Odegaard opened the scoring with just a couple of minutes on the clock. It was 4-0 by the 25th minute. With a 5-0 lead by the 40-minute mark, Sheffield United were lucky Arsenal eased off in the second half. 

Wigan 0-6 Chelsea, August 2010

Coming off a double-winning season in Carlo Ancelotti’s first campaign, Chelsea picked up where they left off at the start of 2010-11 with back-to-back 6-0 wins.

Wigan were the second victim of The Blues’ relentless goal scoring just months after losing 8-0 to the same opponents on the final day of the season.

The home side actually kept it respectable until the 78th minute. Just 3-0 down with 12 to play, Chelsea capitalised as the hosts fatigued with Salomon Kalou adding a brace and Yossi Benayoun putting the cherry on top in the 93rd minute.

Newcastle 0-6 Liverpool, April 2013

Newcastle were fighting relegation in April 2013, but they weren’t facing the most formidable Liverpool team.

This iteration of the Anfield outfit is a far cry from the side that has been at the forefront of Premier League predictions under Jurgen Klopp.

Luis Suarez was prolific in 2012-13 – he didn’t even play in this one. Just imagine what score it might've finished if he had been on the pitch...

It was Daniel Agger and Jordan Henderson giving the Merseyside club the lead in the first half, followed by a couple for Daniel Sturridge, a goal from Fabio Borini and Henderson’s second to cap off an emphatic win on the road.

Aston Villa 0-6 Liverpool, February 2016

This win in the early days of Jurgen Klopp’s reign was a taster of what was to come. Liverpool were down in eighth, facing bottom of the league Aston Villa. James Milner was playing on the right flank and scored one of the six goals.

Nathaniel Clyne, Kolo Toure, Mamadou Sakho and Alberto Moreno made up the back four with the first two each getting on the score sheet.

This was a period of transition for the Reds, but they flashed a ruthless streak with four goals in 13 second half minutes to humiliate the Villains.

Watford 0-6 Manchester City, September 2017

Pep Guardiola’s Manchester City have made a habit of breaking Premier League records. They aren’t top of this category, but they were always bound to feature.

Watford have taken a number of hammerings from City since Guardiola arrived at the club. This one was particularly brutal with the game all but over by the 37th minute as City took a 3-0 lead.

Nicolas Otamendi added a fourth in the second half before Sergio Aguero completed his hat-trick and Raheem Sterling finished it off with a sixth.

Southampton 0-6 Chelsea, April 2022

This isn’t the last we’ll see of Southampton. It’s not often a team can count themselves lucky when they’ve lost by six, but that was very much the case at St Mary’s in April 2022.

Chelsea were 4-0 by the 31st minute and 6-0 up just after the hour mark. Southampton were a mess from the first whistle, and their effort was subpar throughout.

Thomas Tuchel’s side could have finished much up higher up this list they didn’t turn their attention to a midweek match with Real Madrid – it was a proper drubbing.

Sheffield Wednesday 1-7 Nottingham Forest, April 1995

Nottingham Forest’s 7-1 win over Sheffield Wednesday in 1995 was the biggest away win in Premier League history for nearly four years. 
The rout began with a free-kick from Stuart Pearce, but when Mark Bright scored a penalty to make it 3-1 in the 52nd minute, a comeback was a possibility.

Such hopes were soon crushed by the visitors. Bryan Roy scored his second before setting up the final three to seal an historic victory.

Hull 1-7 Tottenham, May 2017

Following a similar pattern to Forest’s 7-1, Tottenham were 3-0 up at half-time, but a goal from Sam Clucas made it 3-1 relatively early in the second half.

Victor Wanyama scored just moments later, however, as Spurs regained a three-goal advantage.

Harry Kane completed his hat-trick three minutes later. Ben Davies and Toby Alderweireld finished off the demolition with goals in the last 10 minutes. Hull were ultimately relegated with 80 goals conceded. Tottenham finished second, securing a spot in European football tips for 2017-18.

Crystal Palace 0-7 Liverpool, December 2020

Roy Hodgson’s Crystal Palace were one of the oldest and slowest teams in the league. That’s not a good combination for the Heavy Metal Football^TM of Jurgen Klopp’s Liverpool.

Even without Mo Salah, Liverpool were sensational. Takumi Minamino got the ball rolling with a goal in the third minute, and Sadio Mane doubled the advantage after the 30-minute mark.

Roberto Firmino and Jordan Henderson got it to 4-0 by the 52nd minute. Salah then came off the bench to give Mane a rest, assisting Firmino’s second and scoring two of his own.

Nottingham Forest 1-8 Manchester United, February 1999

Spending over two decades as the biggest away win in Premier League history, this was a mismatch on paper, but even the most optimistic Manchester United fans would not have envisaged an 8-1 win on the road.

This was, of course, in the midst of United’s treble-winning season. Forest ultimately finished bottom of the table with just 30 points.

Dwight Yorke put the away side ahead just a couple of minutes in. Alan Rogers equalised in the sixth minute, but celebrations were short-lived with the visitors regaining the advantage seconds later through Andy Cole.

Cole and Yorke each scored another goal in the second half.

Ole Gunnar Solskjaer was the real story, though, after he replaced Yorke in the 71st minute. The Norwegian scored four goals in a 13-minute spell to cement a remarkable day for Manchester United.

Sheffield United 0-8 Newcastle, September 2023

This is the second time Sheffield United's nightmare 2023-24 campaign features on this list. The Blades' first home hammering of the season was delivered by Newcastle in September, with the Magpies putting eight past the newly promoted side.

It was 3-0 after 35 minutes and it only got worse from there. Callum Wilson and Anthony Gordon made it 5-0 by the 62nd minute. Bruno Guimaraes and Miguel Almiron netted the next two before Alexander Isak completed the rout in the final minutes of the match. 

Kieran Tripper might not have scored, but he was influential, finishing the match with three assists from right-back. 

Southampton 0-9 Leicester, October 2019

Also on the end of one of the biggest home wins in Premier League history, Ralph Hasenhuttl’s south coast tenure was punctuated by heavy defeats.

Southampton were in disarray against Leicester in October 2019, conceding nine with no response.

Ben Chilwell’s early goal and Ryan Bertrand’s red card set the tone. It was a demise of epic proportions from then on with the home team finding themselves 5-0 down by the interval.

Double figures looked very much possible. Leicester let off to a degree in the second 45, however, though Ayoze Perez and Jamie Vardy still completed their hat tricks.

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