You'll have plenty to celebrate when you subscribe to the Liverpool FC newsletter Sign me up Thank you for subscribing We have more newsletters Show me See our privacy notice Invalid Email

Former Liverpool defender Mark Lawrenson has launched a scathing attack on Mario Balotelli after the striker and his teammates drew a blank in the FA Cup quarter final against Blackburn Rovers at Anfield.

The ECHO columnist was speaking on BBC Radio 5 Live when he used the opportunity to controversially label the Italian striker a "waste of space" after he replaced Lazar Markovic just before the hour mark.

Balotelli's introduction failed to help provide the breakthrough the Reds were hoping for in a week when his agent Mino Raiola said the 25-year-old was being asked to do things at Anfield he hadn't done before - like run without the ball.

Nevertheless he has kept many of the fans behind him and Brendan Rodgers has regularly turned to him when he wants to shake a game up in the second half.

Lawro said: "'Forget about Mario Balotelli. He is an absolute waste of time. He shouldn't be anywhere near this team.

"I can see why Brendan Rodgers threw him on today as he might just create something, but 99 times out of 100 he will let you down."

The timing of Lawrenson's criticism seems a little strange as the striker was no worse than many of his colleagues on a day when the whole team failed to fire and is a far cry from August when the pundit labelled Balotelli's signing from AC Milan for £16m as a "no-brainer for the money".

Last month Balotelli scored the winner off the bench against Spurs and secured the only goal of the game with the controversial penalty against Besiktas in the Europa League, while it was his free-kick which was turned home by Adam Lallana to ensure FA Cup progress at Crystal Palace in the previous round.

He took to social media in the last week to suggest "someone doesn't like me" setting the rumour mill raging once again although other translations reported his phrase as the rather less dramatic "some people do not like me".

Either way, one suspects he was not talking about Lawro!