Pic: The Liverpool Echo have demanded an apology from Mario Balotelli for his half-time shirt swap last night

Is it just us or has this incident been blown completely out of all proportion?

Not for the first time in his career, Mario Balotelli is dominating the headlines for all the wrong reasons this morning following his decision to swap shirts with Pepe at half-time during Liverpool’s defeat to Real Madrid last night. Brendan Rodgers said he was not aware of the incident at the time, but Balotelli did not appear for the second half after another below-par performance and was subsequently widely and rather brutally condemned for the exchange of shirts with the Real Madrid defender. The Liverpool Echo were so outraged that their back page carries a picture of Balotelli and Pepe along with the headline ‘Apologise’ and a sub-headline that reads ‘The ECHO says Balotelli must say sorry for his half-time shirt swap’.

Apologise! Watch @JamesPearceEcho on why @FinallyMario must say sorry for shirt swap http://t.co/69Fuj5qPx9 #LFCVSRM pic.twitter.com/SbwsvVuo93 — Liverpool Echo (@LivEchoLFC) October 22, 2014

Now we’re no massive fans of the ritual of players swapping shirts at half-time and it must have looked particularly bad from Balotelli’s and Liverpool’s point of view considering they were trailing 3-0 at the time, but does it really justify the hugely negative reaction it has generated since? In our opinion it doesn’t but if you think otherwise feel free to let us know in the comment box below.