Mario Balotelli: Liverpool striker denies having sex hours before playing games

Italian has struggled to find the target for the Reds but denied rumour

Brendan Rodgers and Mario Balotelli at Liverpool’s training ground yesterday (Getty Images)

In the past, rumours circulated that the Italian got into the correct mind-set before a game by indulging in pre-match sex – but apparently this is not the case.

“Someone told me recently that I had apparently said that if I have sex three or four hours before a game, it is working for me on the pitch,” Balotelli said in an interview with Sport magazine.

“Trust me, if I am having sex four hours before a game, I am not able to play. I don’t think anyone could.

“It makes me laugh, but this is not me.”

Balotelli has only scored once for his new club after joining from AC Milan in the summer, against minnows Ludogorets in the Champions League.

He is still goalless in the Premier League, but will have the chance to rectify it when Liverpool travel to face bottom-of-the-table QPR on Sunday.