Featured Image Credit: BBC Sport
Topics: Manchester City, Erling Haaland, FA Cup, Crystal Palace
Ryan Smart
Topics: Manchester City, Erling Haaland, FA Cup, Crystal Palace
Fans are all saying the same thing after seeing Erling Haaland turn down the chance to take a penalty in the FA Cup final against Crystal Palace - as well as what he did afterwards.
City won a penalty shortly before half-time after Tyrick Mitchell was adjudged to have fouled Bernardo Silva.
Pep Guardiola's side were 1-0 down at the time after Eberechi Eze opened the scoring for Palace.
Haaland would have been expected to take the spot kick as City's main penalty taker.
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But the Norwegian surprisingly decided to give the ball to Omar Marmoush instead.
Marmoush would then see his penalty saved by Dean Henderson, who dived low to his right to pull off the stop.
Haaland was presented with a goalscoring opportunity from the rebound, but looked for the pass instead and eventually miscued the ball into the arms of Henderson, capping off a nightmare few minutes.
Even if his pass had connected with Marmoush, the Egyptian would have been flagged offside as he was ahead of both Haaland and the ball.
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In reaction, one fan on Twitter wrote: "Reckon Haaland would have laughed in your face a couple of years ago if you suggested he should let someone else take a penalty in a final. Definitely lost a lot of confidence."
Another said: "Why is Haaland not taking a crucial penalty in a cup final?"
A third added: "Why did Haaland not smash that instead of passing it from the rebound?"
Speaking on BBC Sport, Wayne Rooney suggested that the decision to not have Haaland take the penalty would have been pre-determined by Guardiola and his coaching staff before the game.
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Regardless, the incident will likely do little to help the forward's confidence as he prepares for the second half, where he will hope to have more fortune in front of goal at Wembley.