Riyad Mahrez has discussed why he refused to let Phil Foden take a penalty for Man City in their 4-0 drubbing of Chelsea in the FA Cup.
After Foden won the spot-kick, courtesy of a clumsy challenge for Kalidou Koulibably and City already leading 3-0, it seemed like the England international would take a rare penalty.
Considering Mahrez let Julian Alvarez shoot from 12 yards out to double the lead for Man City as well, it seemed like the Algerian would let the £225,000-a-week starlet bag a brace.
However, Riyad Mahrez decided to step up himself and blasted the ball into the Chelsea net to score his 4th goal in 3 matches against Chelsea this season.
Many were surprised to see the 31-year-old not just let Phil Foden take the penalty, considering he was having a top-quality game and that too in midfield, proving Gareth Southgate wrong while earning two back-to-back starts for the side in ages, after being dropped by Pep Guardiola seemingly due to his body language in training.
While other felt it was only right that the in-form winger took the spot-kick, considering he sacrificed his first chance to do so for Julian Alvarez to give Man City a 2-goal cushion.
Now, the man himself has cleared up all the confusion.
Riyad Mahrez on why he did not let Phil Foden take a penalty vs Chelsea
Riyad Mahrez has explained why he did not let Phil Foden take the penalty to make the score 4-0 for Man City against Chelsea in the FA Cup.
“I was thinking, ‘if I have a second one [penalty, after letting Julian Alvarez take the first], I’ll take it and even when Phil [Foden] asked me, I wanted to let him shoot but I was thinking, ‘I let Julian take the first one, so I had to take this one.’
“Phil scored a goal, Julian scored, I scored, everyone was involved, that’s the most important”, Mahrez was quoted saying by MEN’s Simon Bajkowski.
Ultimately, Riyad Mahrez largely remains an expert penalty-taker and fair play to him for backing himself to do the business, even if Phil Foden was potentially left dismayed at the death against Chelsea.
