Manchester City missed a golden opportunity to break out from Liverpool and Chelsea at the top of the Premier League table as they drew their away game vs Jurgen Klopp’s side 0-0.
The match was a more or less evenly contested game but the whole tide turned in favour of City when they were awarded a penalty four minutes before the final whistle.
Sergio Aguero is City’s first choice penalty taker but with the Argentine not available, Pep Guardiola handed the duties to summer signing Riyad Mahrez.
While everyone thought the Algerian would put the ball past Alisson but instead the winger thumped the ball over the bar and possibly into space.
And after the match, Gabriel Jesus was the first person who came out to claim he was not happy with his manager for handing out the penalty-taking duties to Riyad Mahrez.
Jesus was clearly the one who took interest in taking the spot kick as soon as it was awarded but Pep Guardiola immediately handed down instruction to let Riyad Mahrez take the penalty.
Pep Guardiola since has apologized to Gabriel Jesus and has also revealed why he chose Riyad Mahrez over the Brazilian.
According to the manager, Riyad Mahrez’s penalties during the training sessions had impressed him a lot as a result of which he put faith in the 27-year-old.
58 – Among players to have taken at least 10 penalties in the Premier League, only Juan Pablo Angel (50%, 5/10) has a lower success rate than Riyad Mahrez (58%, 7/12). Fluffed. pic.twitter.com/SKbNurWsQD
— OptaJoe (@OptaJoe) October 7, 2018
But the manager has not claimed that if he knew that Mahrez had missed four out of his previous seven penalties then maybe Gabriel Jesus and not Riyad Mahrez would have taken the spot kick.
The Algerian though has put up a brave face after the miss saying: “It is part of football, you have to go forward and stay strong. Sometimes you score, sometimes you miss.
“But the most important thing is the performance was very good.”
This miss though has surely put Riyad Mahrez in the bad books of Pep Guardiola and we are pretty sure that the 27-year-old won’t be stepping up to take penalties any time soon.
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