Mario Balotelli responds after Brendan Rodgers joked he was the best player he has ever coached

The Celtic boss made the original comments at his club's awards dinner

Rodgers only managed to get one goal out of Balotelli (Getty)

Mario Balotelli has responded to Brendan Rodgers after the Celtic manager joked the Italian was the best player he has ever coached.

Rodgers signed Balotelli for Liverpool as a replacement for Luis Suarez in 2014 but only managed to get a return of a single goal in 16 games before he went on loan to AC Milan.

The Northern Irishman was sacked during the 2015/16 season while Balotelli was playing in Serie A for his former side but the striker was allowed to leave Anfield for Nice at the start of this season.

Rodgers was asked during a question and answer session at Celtic’s end-of-season awards who was the best player he had ever coached, to which the former Liverpool boss responded: “Mario Balotelli… he was a fantastic player.”

The 26-year-old has rediscovered his best form since leaving Liverpool, helping Nice to third in the Ligue 1 table with 14 goals in 18 starts.

And Balotelli hit back at Rodgers’ comments on social media on Wednesday.

He wrote: “Brendan Rodgers you are also the best manager I ever had. Amazing.”