Mario Balotelli: 'Brendan Rodgers relationship at Liverpool was a disaster'

Mario Balotelli has described his relationship with former Liverpool manager Brendan Rodgers as a "disaster".

The controversial Italian striker, who left Liverpool in the summer to join Nice, listed Rodgers as his least favourite coach to work with.

Balotelli was a surprise purchase from Rodgers when he joined the Reds from AC Milan two years ago in a £16m deal, but he struggled to impress, scoring just one Premier League goal in the 2014-15 season.

After the striker spent the following campaign on loan at Milan, Jurgen Klopp, who replaced Rodgers as Liverpool manager last October, opted to offload Balotelli on a permanent basis to Nice, where he has scored six goals.

While discussing his past managers, the 26-year-old admitted that Roberto Mancini was his favourite to play under during the pair's time together at Inter Milan and Manchester City, while Rodgers is at the bottom of the list.

"For me, the one most on the ball remains Mancini; fantastic, I owe him so much," Balotelli told Gazzetta dello Sport. "In second place I put [Lucien] Favre [of Nice] with [Jose] Mourinho; the Portuguese is talented and motivated, it is a pity that we had a falling out.

"The worst? Not Klopp, I am not angry with him. If he has created a certain situation at Liverpool, maybe he should have had more patience with me. In truth, I had the biggest disappointment with Rodgers. I enjoyed myself with him in training but our relationship was a disaster."

Rodgers is now in charge of Scottish giants Celtic.