The Italian striker has dismissed claims he had a disrespectful celebration prepared if he had scored at Parc Des Princes on Sunday
Marseille forward Mario Balotelli has denied planning to troll Paris Saint-Germain with a Marcus Rashford emblazoned t-shirt during their Ligue 1 clash on Sunday.
The Ligue 1 giants met in a top of the table clash in Paris, which ended with a 3-1 victory for the reigning French champions .
An Angel Di Maria double and Kylian Mbappe strike ensured PSG took all three points, but Balotelli still ended up in the headlines despite failing to find the back of the net for the visitors.
Widespread reports after the match suggested that the former Manchester City and Liverpool star had prepared a unique celebration in the event he scored at Parc des Princes.
Poking fun at PSG’s now infamous Champions League defeat at the hands of Manchester United, Balotelli had reportedly worn a t-shirt with a picture of matchwinner Rashford printed on it underneath his Marseille kit.
However, the Italy international took to Instagram after the match to rubbish the story, quoting the false headline with the caption: “This is a lie!”
Balotelli also wrote underneath the news image: “Stop creating fake stories over me.”
For good measure, he painted the word “bulls**t” across the centre of the post, hammering home the fact that he had no intention of mocking PSG.
Balotelli is prone to controversy and has been sampling a range of new celebrations since joining Marseille in January, most notably filming for Instagram Live after scoring against Saint Etienne on March 3.
PSG were knocked out of Europe after a stunning 3-1 home defeat to United earlier in the month , which ultimately rendered their 2-0 victory at Old Trafford in February meaningless and maintained their poor record in the competition.
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Rashford scored the decisive goal in the tie from the penalty spot after Presnel Kimpembe was adjudged to have handled in the area, which sparked wild scenes among the travelling supporters.
Despite Balotelli’s mischievous nature, it seems unlikely that he would use such an event to take a swipe at PSG, mainly given the fact that he spent three years playing for United’s arch-rivals Man City between 2010 and 2013.
Thomas Tuchel’s side are now on course to secure a domestic double, 20 points clear at the top of Ligue 1 with a French Cup semi-final against Nantes to look forward to in April.