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Daniel Sturridge believes Liverpool team-mate Mario Balotelli is 'misunderstood' and is relishing the chance to strike up a partnership with the Italian.
The pair have played together just once - at White Hart Lane - because of injury to Sturridge, but the England man believes all the signs suggest the pair will flourish alongside each other once he returns to action.
“We get on well off the field and in the changing rooms. We’re always laughing and joking,” he told talkSPORT. “It’s not hugely important to be friends to have a great [football] relationship with somebody, and if you’re not friends you can still have a great partnership, but you can also be friends and have a great partnership.
“Once I get back fit I’m hoping we can strike up a partnership. Last season with Luis [Suarez] we had a great relationship up front and scored a lot of goals. Hopefully this season it will be the same.”
Balotelli has struggled to justify his £16million price tag since arriving at Anfield, scoring just twice while receiving negative headlines for swapping shirts with Pepe at half-time in last week's defeat to Real Madrid.
But Sturridge insists the 24-year-old is facing greater scrutiny because of his 'celebrity', and says the striker is working hard in training.
“Mario has been under the microscope,” he added. “That will always be the case when you play for a big club. You are going to have a lot of eyes on you.
“Mario’s a great guy, and he’s misunderstood sometimes. A lot of people are harsh on him. I get on really with him though. I have nothing but good words to say about him.
“He’s working hard on the training field. People have told me he’s working tirelessly to play the way we play.
"It’s difficult moving to a new club and having new team-mates, it doesn’t [always] just click straight away. Everybody is helping him and he’s playing well. Sometimes you don’t get the breaks in terms of scoring goals. Every striker goes through times when they don’t score.
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“A lot of stories have been put out about him in the past which aren’t true. For him, it’s difficult to shake off the celebrity [tag].
“He’s a likeable person. I don’t have any bad words to say about him. People don’t realise what he’s been through in his life to get where he is today.”
