Mario Balotelli risked the wrath of Liverpool fans by tweeting a supportive message to former teammate Raheem Sterling after his debut goal for Manchester City.
Sterling, who left Anfield for City in a £49 million deal last week after an acrimonious transfer saga, struck inside the first three minutes of a preseason friendly against Roma in Australia.
Liverpool supporters were angered by some of Sterling's conduct in the months preceding the move and Balotelli, a former City player, risked inflaming tensions with a congratulatory tweet:
Well done @sterling31 ! Best answer ��. Keep it up.
- Mario Balotelli (@FinallyMario) July 21, 2015
Balotelli, who had a difficult first season at Liverpool, later attempted to clarify his remarks after receiving some abusive replies.
Liverpool fans are amazing but i hope@sterling31 will play at his best because he deserve it.He s a good guy young and talented.....
- Mario Balotelli (@FinallyMario) July 21, 2015
....support him Like you always did .He gave everything to this club and respect it so im sad to see this.YNWA ,Liverpool is a family ALWAYS
- Mario Balotelli (@FinallyMario) July 21, 2015
Sterling himself was pleased with his performance after finally generating some positive headlines with his eye-catching display at the vast Melbourne Cricket Ground.
Back doing what I love doing ❤️⚽️ https://t.co/97x3Id3fGL
- Raheem Sterling (@sterling31) July 21, 2015
Sterling struck after just two minutes and 17 seconds of a game which City eventually won 5-4 on penalties after a 2-2 draw at the end of 90 minutes.
He was taken off at half-time -- along with eight other City players -- but manager Manuel Pellegrini was pleased with his display.
The Chilean told reporters: "Well it is always important for the strikers to score. He scored very early in the game.
"He just played 45 minutes. He has worked with our team for just a few days so I am very happy with the way he played.
"He demonstrated why he is here, he demonstrated not only his value as a player. He is a very young player so I think he will improve a lot in the future, playing with Yaya [Toure], David Silva and [Sergio] Kun Aguero.
"I am very happy for him and very happy for our team to have bought him."