mario balotelli thanked the liverpool fans who helped him avoid a red card against manchester united, writing 'i wasn’t alone on the pitch' during the closing stages of manchester united's win over liverpool, balotelli had to be restrained by the fans after clashing with chris smalling after taking offence to a tackle the fiery italian reacted to being forced into the advertising boards and was quick in his attempts to grab the england international mario balotelli (right) is restrained by some liverpool supporters after his clash with chris smalling  the italian was angry at the england international after a tussle forced them into the advertising board  liverpool fans intervened and may have played their part in keeping balotelli on the pitch   with the forward being booked just a few minutes before and balotelli showed his appreciation for the supporters on monday, posting a picture to facebook thanking them for helping him 'besides all efforts the game didn’t go our way,' he wrote 'but one thing was real clear: i wasn’t alone on the pitch ynwa' the incident occured after the balotelli took a poor touch and smalling attempted to shepherd him off the pitch but both players collided with the boards during the physical tussle the england international was quick to get on with the game but the italian attempted to grab him and a stand off ensued neither player were booked for the clash and brendan rodgers may be thankful the liverpool supporters were able to restrain the fiery 24 year old the duo competed for the ball and momentum appeared to take them into the boards  both players tumble towards the hoardings as balotelli falls under the challenge of smalling  balotelli grabbed smalling by the ankle but was restrained before anything more could kick off  balotelli wrote on his facebook that he had not been alone on the pitch, thanking the fans for their support 
monday manchester united italian morning facebook liverpool martin atkinson premier league chris smalling mario balotelli balotelli
mario balotelli and chris smalling were involved in a heated exchange  the italian had to be restrained by the liverpool supporters  balotelli thanked the fans on facebook after the game  'i wasn't alone on the pitch' he wrote on monday morning  neither player was punished for the clash by referee martin atkinson  manchester united beat liverpool 2 1 in a crucial premier league clash  click here for all the latest liverpool news 