Brendan Rodgers has urged Mario Balotelli to follow Luis Suarez’s lead as he attempts to become Liverpool’s new striking icon.
Balotelli scored the first goal of his Liverpool career in Tuesday’s 2-1 Champions League success over FC Ludogorets and his manager believes that strike will release the tension that had started creeping into his performances.
Rodgers, however, has made it clear it is going to take time for Balotelli, 24, to fit into Liverpool’s style of play and if the Italy forward is to have the same kind of impact as Suarez, he is going to have to show the Uruguayan’s willingness to put in the hard yards.
‘Mario is a boy who has really looked into the history of the club,’ said Rodgers. ‘He understands the great strikers of the past. We’ve spoken about Suarez and his time here but if you’re clever you’ll remember he’s still young and still learning the game and he still has this hunger to do well.
‘He’s put his body on the line and he needs to do more of that but I think that will come as he gets fitter.
‘The crowd demand that as the players who’ve been here in the past in that position have been non-stop and he’s becoming attuned to that.’
Daniel Sturridge, meanwhile, has stepped up his rehabilitation from the thigh problem he sustained training with England and could be fit to face Everton on Saturday week.– Daily Mail