Fabio Borini has paid tribute to his "unselfish" Liverpool teammate Mario Balotelli by admitting that he would like to link up with his fellow Italian more often.

Balotelli has only managed to show his quality in brief moments since joining from AC Milan in the summer, but his attitude on the pitch has been praised by Borini.

"I have played with him before and found it really well on the pitch, not just because of the language but we were born with the same idea of football, as Italians, so it's really easy to understand each other even without talking," the forward told the club's website.

"He's a player that can change the game whenever he wants. It's a tough league, probably the toughest in Europe - and I think he understands that.

"In the games, he runs a lot and is really giving himself to the team, being very unselfish."

Borini has only managed one start in the Premier League this season, with Brendan Rodgers preferring to put his faith in Balotelli, Daniel Sturridge and Rickie Lambert.