During their defeat against Man United last weekend, a Liverpool fan who grabbed Mario Balotelli to stop him from attacking Man Utd’s Chris Smalling told the Liverpool Echo: “I was worried he’d get sent off.”
Shaun Leatherbarrow sat in row one of the Centenary Stand and was seen by millions of television viewers around the world grabbing Liverpool's Italian striker as he looked set to lose his temper after being pushed towards the hoardings by the United defender.
Balotelli had earlier been shown a yellow card by referee Martin Atkinson for a challenge on Phil Jones and any further provocation could have seen Liverpool down to nine men in the second half after the dismissal of Steven Gerrard within 43 seconds of his half time arrival.
And Shaun also revealed that he was helped in his Good Samaritan act by the long arm of the law – a policeman next to him who normally works at the ground on match day!
He said: “The way I saw it Smalling sort of shoved Mario off the pitch and Mario grabbed him just to have something to grab on to.
“I could tell from Mario’s body language he was ready to react and I knew he’d already had a yellow card.
“I was saying ‘calm down, leave it, leave it and he was saying ‘OK, OK’.
“I’m only 5ft 8in and he’s a big lad so I was struggling to get my arms around him.
“Peter, the lad who sits next to me at the ground, helped me and he’s a police officer who sometimes works at Anfield on match days.
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