Carlo Ancelotti stood up for Mario Balotelli after Real Madrid destroyed Liverpool 3-0. “He wasn’t the worst performer.”

Italy striker Balotelli is becoming a scapegoat in the British media after his half-time substitution, having been spotted swapping shirts with Pepe at the break.

Carlo Ancelotti stood up for Mario Balotelli after Real Madrid destroyed Liverpool 3-0. “He wasn’t the worst performer.”

Italy striker Balotelli is becoming a scapegoat in the British media after his half-time substitution, having been spotted swapping shirts with Pepe at the break.

“Have we completely lost Balotelli? I thought in the first half he was the player who most attacked the space and tried to create problems for us,” Ancelotti told Sky Sport Italia.

“His performance was absolutely not to be scrapped tonight. Can he give more? I don’t know, but he wasn’t the worst performer this evening.”

Fabio Cannavaro also ran to defend Balotelli, who is on the back pages of English newspapers tomorrow for the shirt-swap incident.

"I know people like to stir up controversy about Balotelli, but I think to complain he swapped shirts is just crazy."

Ancelotti also spoke to Sport Mediaset after the 3-0 victory at Anfield.

“We are in good shape at the moment, playing well, very concentrated and I’m very happy, as playing with this confidence and concentration was not easy.

“Nothing is perfect, so we can and must still improve. It is true that recently we’ve done very well and we go into the Barcelona game in the best shape.

“It’s a long road ahead, we are competitive, but we should look at the short-term targets first of all.

“I think there can be no doubt Cristiano Ronaldo can be the Ballon d’Or. I really don’t know what more he could’ve done!”

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