I wanted to kill Kamara over penalty, says Fulham’s Ranieri
LONDON: Fulham manager Claudio Ranieri said he wanted “to kill” his striker Aboubakar Kamara, whom he accused of disrespecting the club by insisting on taking a penalty against the Italian’s orders in their 1-0 win over Huddersfield.
The bizarre incident, made worse by Kamara’s subsequent miss from the spot, happened in the 82nd minute of the Premier League game with the score goalless at Craven Cottage on Saturday.
As soon as the penalty was awarded, Frenchman Kamara wrestled the ball from Fulham’s top scorer Aleksandar Mitrovic and ignored all entreaties from his teammates to give the ball back to the Serbian.
The 23-year-old Kamara’s subsequent effort was then saved by Huddersfield keeper Jonas Lossl.
Although Mitrovic scored a late winner that moved Fulham up one place to 18th, Ranieri afterwards expressed his anger at Kamara, who had netted a penalty against Manchester United earlier this season.
“I said to Aboubakar Kamara to leave the ball to Aleksandar Mitrovic, he is the man who shoots the penalties,” said the Italian coach.
“It is unbelievable, he did not respect me, the club, the team and crowd. I spoke with him, it is not right.
“I wanted to kill him, that is normal when one man takes a ball, only because he scored the last penalty ( against Manchester United). It should be Mitrovic, that is it.”
Crystal Palace striker Christian Benteke was involved in a similar incident in a Premier League game last December, when he wrestled the ball from regular penalty taker Luka Milivojevic but also missed from the spot in the 2-2 draw with Bournemouth.
Belgian striker Benteke subsequently issued an apology to his teammates for his actions. — Reuters