Guardiola Exempts Riyad Mahrez From Taking Penalties
Manchester City coach Pep Guardiola decided to exempt Algerian international, Riyad Mahrez, from carrying out penalty kicks in the future, after he missed a second penalty against Borussia Dortmund in the Champions League, as he already missed a penalty against FC Copenhagen, which confirmed significant technical problems he has been experiencing since the beginning of the current season.
Manchester City played against Borussia Dortmund on Tuesday ending the game with a draw (0-0) in the fifth round of the Champions League qualification group stage, as Mahrez missed another penalty, after failing to convert a spot kick in the previous match 0-0 draw with FC Copenhagen in the Champions League, so his numbers in this field declined after he was the first penalty shooter in Man City and with distinction.
Mahrez refused to implement the penalty kick, which he obtained himself. Still, his teammates insisted that he implement it and tried to raise his morale before implementing it after they gathered around him. Pep Guardiola said in media statements after the match, in response to a question regarding his opinion about Mahrez after he missed a penalty; “Listen, I admire the courage and bravery of the guys who take the penalties. I don’t know how many millions of penalties we’ve missed. “We’ve done it in this competition many times. Riyad was exceptional two or three years ago, he shoot the pen to go 1-1 here to help us reach the semi for the first time”.
“Lately, he missed. He will reflect. He can take a break now with the penalties. He has the mentality to go there and do it. The teams are physically strong and we give an advantage to them – it happened too many times. It’s many players”, Guardiola added.
“Of course, it’s a problem: Pep Guardiola admits Man City have to improve after they missed yet another penalty courtesy of Riyad Mahrez in a 0-0 draw with Borussia Dortmund… meaning they’ve missed 25 of their 80 spot-kicks under the Spaniard.
‘We missed one in Copenhagen and here as well. In this competition, it’s fine margins. We’ve missed 25 penalties, most of them in the Champions League. That’s too much. I always admire their courage, (taking) the responsibility to do it, but of course, we’ve missed a lot of penalties and this is a problem”.
In total Mahrez has scored 10 out of his 14 penalties since moving to the Etihad in 2018.
However, excluding penalty shoot-outs, City has now missed 25 of the 80 penalties they have been awarded under Guardiola.
