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The Liverpool fan who grabbed Mario Balotelli to stop him getting involved with Man Utd’s Chris Smalling today told the ECHO: “I was worried he’d get sent off.”

Shaun Leatherbarrow sits in row one of the Centenary Stand and was seen by millions of television viewers around the world grabbing the Reds’ Italian striker as he looked set to lose his temper after being pushed towards the hoardings by the United defender.

Balotelli had already been shown a yellow card by referee Martin Atkinson for a challenge on Phil Jones and any further trouble 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 revealed 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.

“Afterwards all the lads were laughing and patting me on the back as well as having a go at Smalling.”

Shaun has followed Liverpool FC around the world, having been to Rome, Istanbul in 2005, Athens in 2007 and even the World Club Championship in Tokyo in 2005.

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He has had his season ticket seat in row one of the Centenary Stand for around six or seven years and says it helps add to the match atmosphere.

“You’re so close, you feel you’re actually involved yourself. We’ve had loads of players hurtling towards us over the years. It just adds 10-20% to it all and obviously with it being United you get up even more,” he said.

But Skelmersdale-born Shaun won’t be able to watch over any other Liverpool players for much longer as he and his family are emigrating from Appleby Bridge to Australia at the end of the summer.

“It’s me, my wife and the four kids and we’re off to Melbourne. She’s a teacher and has work lined up and I’m a builder.

“I’m only got about four Anfield games left though I hope we can get to the semi-final and final of the FA Cup. It’s going to be hard to miss the match but we’ve thought about it for a couple of years and we’re doing it now.

“My nine-year-old son Daniel is Liverpool-mad and I’d love to get Balotelli’s shirt for him.”

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