Mario Balotelli inspires Liverpool to late turnaround against Swansea

Posted Wednesday, October 29, 2014 by theguardian.com

Liverpool's Mario Balotelli scores the equaliser against Swansea in the Capital One Cup fourth-round tie at Anfield.

The Mario Balotelli soap opera has taken a dramatic twist. The tale has been one of anguish and irritation for Brendan Rodgers since he took a punt on the Italy international 10 weeks ago but it turned to joy and relief as the maligned striker instigated a rousing Liverpool recovery at Swansea City's expense in the Capital One Cup.

Rodgers' team advanced to the quarter-finals having stared at a demoralising exit and a third consecutive home game without a goal with 86 minutes on the clock. Marvin Emnes had swept Garry Monk's side ahead in impressive fashion and Swansea appeared set for a second fourth-round win at Anfield in two years. Then Fabio Borini delivered an exquisite cross from the right wing, Balotelli showed movement in the penalty area that many at Liverpool had begun to fear was beyond him and steered home only his second goal for the club on the volley. "Finally," he later tweeted.

Judgment must be reserved on a potential turning point for the £16m signing from Milan. In the context of a trying cup tie at Anfield his impact was beyond dispute. Liverpool were toiling before his equaliser. Shortly after it Federico Fernández was harshly sent off for a 90th-minute challenge on Philippe Coutinho and it was from the Brazilian's deep free-kick in stoppage time that Dejan Lovren headed the winner into an unguarded visiting net. Swansea's defence and goalkeeper Gerhard Tremmel were at fault for Lovren's first competitive goal for Liverpool but the dismissal of a centre-half seconds earlier cannot be discounted from the set-piece chaos.

"With better defending for the first goal and a better decision for the sending-off we'd be going away from here with a win," Monk, the Swansea manager, said. "It is clearly not a red card. If anything, the Liverpool player's foot was higher than our player's foot. The referee [Keith Stroud] is a sensible referee and hopefully he will rescind it."

Rodgers did not appear for the post-match press conference, electing to send his assistant Colin Pascoe instead. He missed a rare chance to answer a barrage of Balotelli questions with a positive slant.

"It is great for Mario, he wants to work all the time," said Pascoe. "He is a resilient lad with a tremendous talent. He wants to work on his movement and his finishing. We had to assess him before the game. He felt something in his knee during the warm-up and Mike Marsh [the first team coach] sent him in to see the physio."

The all-clear proved an invaluable verdict for Liverpool. Rodgers' team controlled the opening 40 minutes, Coutinho to the fore, without overworking Tremmel in the Swansea goal and their display was becoming increasingly erratic before Balotelli's intervention. Lazar Markovic squandered the home side's best chance before the interval when he latched on to an incisive counterattack led by Coutinho and Jordan Henderson, who was captain for the night with Steven Gerrard rested along with Raheem Sterling. A sliced effort into the Anfield Road stand encapsulated Markovic's contribution since his £20m summer arrival from Benfica.

Swansea struggled initially. "We allowed Liverpool too much time on the ball," Monk said, but the visitors finally exerted pressure on their opponents and found their accuracy in possession in the second half. Nathan Dyer and the former Liverpool midfielder Jonjo Shelvey went close moments before the interval, Bafetimbi Gomis tested the stand-in keeper Brad Jones with a header from Shelvey's corner shortly after the restart and a rare incisive move produced the breakthrough in the 66th minute.

Shelvey was afforded far too much space to drive at the centre of Liverpool's defence. His attempted flick into the area failed to come off but deflected to Neil Taylor, the marauding left-back, who lofted the ball into the penalty area for Emnes to sweep a fine left-footed volley beyond Jones and into the far corner.

The Holland Under-21 international almost doubled the visitors' lead from Jefferson Montero's pass after a loose ball from Lucas Leiva and Tremmel denied Glen Johnson when parrying the full-back's drive from distance.

Rodgers introduced Adam Lallana and Balotelli for the ineffective pair of Markovic and Rickie Lambert in the closing stages but a second successive midweek cup defeat, following Real Madrid's imperious Champions League win last week, beckoned until the Italian met his compatriot's fine delivery and spread personal plus collective relief around Anfield.

There was still time for Balotelli to engage in a running argument with Shelvey, one that the Liverpool striker was keen to continue after Lovren's late winner and had not abated by the time the two reached the tunnel. For once, however, Balotelli had cause for celebration.