2023-05-07 12:48:08
Even at 2-0, in the 85th minute, no charity that holds. Especially not when you are a footballer at Manchester City and the man on the bench is called Pep Guardiola. This is a lesson that Erling Haaland will no doubt learn, who drew the wrath of his coach this Saturday when he thought he was doing the right thing by letting İlkay Gündoğan, already the author of the two Mancunian goals, take the penalty obtained at the very end of the match against Leeds (2-1).
Problem: the German sent his attempt on the post and, in stride, Leeds came back to score through Rodrygo. On the bench, we then see Guardiola invective Haaland, firmly: “Erling! You have to shoot it! “.
“First he showed Erling that he was very angry about it and then he attacked me,” Gundogan said after the game. When Erling grabbed the ball, I was sure he was going to shoot it, but he looked around for me. I checked with him several times to make sure he was sure of himself. He was certain to give me the ball. And I was sure to score. »
“It shows how kind and generous Erling is”
Luckily for City, the game did indeed end in a win that made them look top of the Premier League. But the pill struggled to pass for Guardiola who returned to this episode after the meeting. “The game was not over. It shows how kind and generous Erling is. If it’s 4-0 with 10 minutes left, it’s good. But at 2-0? At 2-0, especially in England, it’s never over. Erling is our best penalty taker, so he has to shoot it. I want the player who usually shoots to do it, because he’s more used to it, he’s a specialist. He took maybe 10 or 11 penalties and he had the feeling – not Gundogan. »
“I admire that Gundogan wanted to take responsibility for taking the penalty – that’s the best thing about a player – but normally the taker is the taker, and Erling had to take it because he is our specialist, he continued. If Gundogan scores the penalty, everyone thinks: OK, hat trick, well done. But the shooter is the shooter. At 2-0, we cannot forget it”. Fortunately for Haaland as for Gundogan that Leeds did not equalize at the end of the game.
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