Ajax coach Frank De Boer accused Mario Balotelli of “creating theatre” for winning AC Milan’s last-gasp penalty that earned them a 1-1 draw in the Champions League on Tuesday night.
Four minutes into injury time and with the Dutch side leading 1-0, Balotelli appeared to grapple defender Christian van der Hoorn to the ground - yet by falling theatrically to the turf, the Italian striker convinced the referee that he was the injured party.
The referee indicated - correctly - that van der Hoorn had grabbed Balotelli's shirt, but as our animated GIF shows Balotelli had grabbed van der Hoorn's entire body.
Add in the fact that the ball was nowhere near either player (and had actually been taken safely by the goalkeeper by the time the two players hit the deck) and it seemed to make for a classic 50-50 incident of the type that is almost never given.
Not this time, however. The match official pointed to the spot and Balotelli tucked the spot kick into the bottom corner - leaving De Boer livid.
“With Balotelli you know he can score from scratch and create theatre. That cost us two points,” slammed De Boer after the 1-1 draw.
“This point comes with a bitter taste. At the end of the day I can live with a point, but to concede with the penalty was disappointing. There are always moments of contact in the box.
"It’s about letting go at the right moment and Van Der Hoorn did that. It was ridiculous that penalty was awarded."
The Dutch coach believed that his men were better on the night and deserved a victory - but admits that they should never have been in the position where a late goal robbed them of all three points.
“We dominated the first half with very good positional play and also had our chances. After the break we made more wrong choices and were restless. Milan were more in the game.
“If you create three or four good chances in today’s football, you must score at least one.”
U say? Balotelli, u sabi die
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