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Jack Grealish Responds To Roy Keane After Irishman Fumed Over Him Not Taking A Penalty In Euro 2020 Final

Jack Grealish Responds To Roy Keane After Irishman Fumed Over Him Not Taking A Penalty In Euro 2020 Final

Roy Keane was unhappy with the decision to allow Bukayo Saka to take England's decisive penalty.

Josh Lawless

Josh Lawless

Jack Grealish has hit back at Roy Keane after the former Manchester United captain criticised he and Raheem Sterling for allowing Bukayo Saka to take England's decisive fifth penalty.

Saka stepped up and missed England's pressure penalty in the Euro 2020 final shoot-out defeat to Italy and many weren't happy that a 19-year-old was given that responsibility when there were more experienced players on the pitch.

Image: PA
Image: PA

Keane did not hold back and called out both Grealish and Sterling on ITV, saying: "If you're Sterling or Grealish, you cannot sit there and have a young kid walk up ahead of you.

"You can't sit there and see a young kid, 19, a child walk up in front of me and I've played a lot more games, a lot more experience."

But Grealish was not happy with the comments made by Keane, who he worked with during the Irishman's time as assistant manager at Aston Villa.

He took to Twitter to reveal he did in fact tell manager Gareth Southgate he wanted to take a spot-kick.

"I said I wanted to take one!!!! " Grealish wrote.

"The gaffer has made so many right decisions through this tournament and he did tonight! But I won't have people say that I didn't want to take a peno [sic] when I said I will..."

Marcus Rashford and Jadon Sancho were both sent on at the very end of extra-time with penalties looming, but the decision didn't quite pay off as the pair missed from 12 yards.

Image: PA
Image: PA

After the game, Southgate took full responsibility for the penalty misses and shunned any blame on his players.

"I chose the guys to take the kicks," the England boss said, as per The Guardian.

"I told the players that nobody is on their own in that situation. We win and lose together as a team. They have been tight throughout and that's how it needs to stay.

"It is my decision to give him [Saka] that penalty. That is totally my responsibility. It is not him or Marcus or Jadon. We worked through them in training. That is the order we came to.

"What they have to know is none of them are on their own. We win and lose as a team. Penalties are my call. We worked in training.

"It's not down to the players. Tonight it hasn't gone for us. We know they were the best takers we had left on the pitch. Of course it's going to be heartbreaking for the boys but they are not to blame for that."

Featured Image Credit:

Topics: Aston Villa, Football, Euro 2020, Jack Grealish, Roy Keane

Josh is a sports journalist who specialises in football and wrestling. He has been published by Curzon Ashton FC, Late Tackle, Manchester City FC, The Mirror, Read Man City and Manchester Evening News. He provides coverage of professional wrestling and has interviewed some of the biggest names in the field - including the first UK interview with The Hardy Boyz after their return to WWE. He has never sported a pair of Lonsdale Slip-ons, contrary to reports.

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