LIVERPOOL -- Liverpool manager Brendan Rodgers insists that Mario Balotelli was the right man to take the decisive penalty in the 1-0 win against Besiktas on Thursday, despite having given the job to Jordan Henderson.
But Rodgers has admitted that there was a breakdown of "etiquette" over how it was decided who would take the spot kick towards the end of the Europa League last-32 first-leg clash at Anfield.
Balotelli took the ball off Liverpool vice-captain Henderson -- who Rodgers has confirmed started the night as the team's designated penalty taker.
Reds captain Steven Gerrard said after the victory that Balotelli had been "disrespectful."
However, Rodgers claims the Italy international was within his rights, because he is above Henderson in the spot-kick pecking order.
The manager said that Gerrard -- currently out with a hamstring injury -- is his first-choice penalty taker, and Balotelli his second.
With Balotelli starting on the bench on Thursday, Rodgers gave penalty duties to Henderson, but claimed the striker then had the right to take on the responsibility when he came on in the second half.
Rodgers, who takes his side to Southampton in the Premier League on Sunday, told a news conference: "If the three players are on the field, you have Steven and Mario as your top two. But neither of them were on at the start, so you have to nominate someone.
"Jordan was the penalty taker. But when we got a penalty, Mario was on the field, so Jordan gave the penalty to him. There was no issue.
"What you don't like to see is four or five players around the ball looking to take a penalty. It was maybe the etiquette that was not as we would have liked last night, but we got the end result."
Henderson's role in the affair has been criticised by some who claim it portrays him as weak, allowing Balotelli to step in ahead of him.
Rodgers says authority is something which comes with experience but he supports the midfielder in the job he is doing -- even if he has again raised doubts about whether he will get the captaincy full-time when Gerrard leaves for LA Galaxy in the summer.
Asked what Henderson needs to add gravitas to his on-field persona, Rodgers said: "Just time. People see him as that automatic next captain but that is not necessarily the case.
"He is a young player and you have to go steady with Jordan. Everyone is trying to catapult him into the next Steven Gerrard and he is not that. I have said it many times, he is not that type of player. Jordan is a real honest boy, a hard-working player, a great team player.
"Steven is a totally different player to that. He [Henderson] is still young but it is not automatic he will be the next captain. But at this moment in time, when Steven doesn't play, he is working that role very well.''
Information from the Press Association was used in this report