Coach Pep Guardiola has a couple of complaints about Erling Haaland giving up the right to take the penalty kick to a teammate that almost put Man City in danger.
On the evening of May 6, Man City welcomed Leeds in the 35th round of the Premier League. Pep Guardiola’s team must win to maintain the gap with rivals Arsenal. And they did not take much effort to decide the match when Gundogan scored twice in the first half.
In the 84th minute of the second half, Man City was awarded a penalty, but Haaland did not score, but did not step up to do it. Instead he gave the right to kick back to captain Gundogan to help him complete his hat-trick.
Unfortunately, Green Man’s No. 8 missed again. Right after that, Leeds counterattacked and got the equalizer. Fortunately, Ederson did not have to pick up the ball again and Man City won the match 2-1.
Sharing about the cumbersome penalty conceding stage of the two students, coach Pep Guardiola was quite annoyed because Haaland did not step up to do it even though he personally requested it.
“Erling Haaland gave the penalty to a teammate who wanted to score a hat-trick, I understand. Gundogan is also a very good penalty kicker.
But always think that when the score is only 1-0 or 2-0, the starting player has to take that penalty. The match is not over. The work shows that Erling is kind and generous. If the score is 4-0 and 10 minutes, OK. But when the score is 2-0? Erling is the best penalty kicker right now so he has to,” Football Daily quoted Pep as saying.
For his part, captain Gundogan also expressed regret when he asked for a penalty to score a hat-trick but failed and indirectly caused the home team to concede a goal right there.
“I’ve asked Haaland a few times if you’re sure? The frustration of not scoring on the penalty spot overwhelmed me even a little bit more than scoring a brace and winning the match. It’s a bit sad. ..”
However, 2-1 is also enough for Man City to extend the winning streak to 10 consecutive matches in the Premier League. At this point, Pep’s team has 82 points after 34 games, 4 more than Arsenal and will keep the top despite the result of the Gunners match against Newcastle tomorrow.
