Mahrez penalty horror as City are held at Anfield
RIYAD Mahrez has claimed it was HIS decision to take the fateful Anfield penalty which denied Manchester City a famous victory.
And that came as it was revealed that the Algeria international has now missed six of his last ten spot kicks.
Manager Pep Guardiola took the blame for Mahrez’s sky-high shot by saying he sent instructions onto the pitch, via Benjamin Mendy to let Mahrez take the 85th-minute penalty.
But Mahrez grabbed the ball and ballooned it.
And he told M.E.N. Sport afterwards it was his own call.
“I made the decision to shoot in the middle – the ball went up,” he said.
“Now I have to look forward. It’s part of football – sometimes you score, sometimes you miss.
“But the most important part was that our performance was very good today. We deserved to win, but sometimes it’s important not to lose, as well.”
But when asked about Guardiola’s role in nominating him, Mahrez denied it.
“No, I took the decision and took the pen. That’s football,” he said.
He was asked if his record in taking penalties was a good one and replied: “In the Champions League yes, but not in the Prem. We have to go forward and stay strong – it’s football, it’s life.”
He has now missed five out of 12 penalties he has taken in the Premier League, but more tellingly has missed six of his last ten.
Mahrez said the miss will not knock his confidence: “It won’t affect me at all. Everyone misses penalties, even big, big players. Of course I wanted to score to help the team to win.”
Jesus had initially stepped up to take the kick but Guardiola said he pulled Mendy over with a message that Mahrez had to take the penalty, which he then blazed over the bar.
“I am in the training sessions and I see him training every day with penalties and he gave me a lot of confidence. It will be a good experience for him, next time it will go in,” Guardiola said.
And Guardiola revealed Jesus had wanted to take the penalty. “Gabriel wanted to take the penalty and I apologised, it was my decision,” he added. The penalty gave City the perfect opportunity to end a 15-year hoodoo of not winning at Anfield, but the City manager did not believe it was an opportunity missed for his team and was happy with their performance. “I am so comfortable with the performance we have done, I don’t think they had one shot on target. With that in Anfield I think we need a lot of credit, I know, everyone knows against which team we were playing,” he said. “Okay, we miss a little bit of creativity, a little bit of pace but it’s not easy because they are so strong and good.” Meanwhile, Guardiola also admitted he was impressed with right-back Kyle Walker and left back Mendy, who returned to the starting line up having been sidelined with an injury. “I also have a lot of credit for Kyle today and how he controlled Mane,”
I made the decision to shoot in the middle but the ball went up. Now I have to look forward Riyad Mahrez