Former Liverpool striker Mario Balotelli has called Brendan Rodgers ‘the worst coach he ever had’ as the pair resumed their tense rivalry.

Rodgers, 50, was in charge at Anfield when the Reds decided to bring ex-Manchester City frontman Balotelli back to the Premier League in 2014.

The Italian completed a £16million move to Merseyside in an effort to replace Luis Suarez but was loaned back to AC Milan the following summer, leaving Liverpool with four goals in 28 appearances.

But their relationship took a turn for the worse when Rodgers sarcastically referred to Balotelli as a ‘fantastic player’ and ‘the best he’d ever coached’ in 2016. The journeyman had moved to Nice at the time in what was the latest leg of his search for stability.

Balotelli, 33, fired back in kind and made his own sarcastic jab at the Northern Irishman over social media. He wrote: “Brendan Rodgers you are also the best manager I ever had. Amazing.”

And more than seven years later, the football wild child has made a fresh dig at Rodgers, who’s now back at Celtic. And the Adana Demirspor striker didn’t hold back in a quote that was in no way tongue in cheek.

“Brendan Rodgers is the worst coach I have ever had,” Balotelli told TVPlay. “He was number one as far as training sessions were concerned, what with keeping possession of the ball and the small-sided games. But as a person he was a disaster.”

The comment at least included some praise as he lauded Rodgers for his tactical acumen and organisation. However, his comments regarding the man himself would cut deeper to some.

Balotelli was recently back in headlines for the wrong reasons after he crashed his Audi in his native Brescia last month while recovering from injury. And he’s been putting his spare time to good use as he offers his candid opinions on past figures from his turbulent career.