Robin Olsen has discussed the incident during half-time of Aston Villa's Premier League clash at Crystal Palace
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Updated 14:45, 21 Mar 2025
Robin Olsen
Robin Olsen(Image: Photo by Shaun Botterill/Getty Images)
Robin Olsen has discussed the incident during half-time of Aston Villa's Premier League clash at Crystal Palace.
The Swedish international was thrown into action at a moment's notice when Emi Martinez was forced to retire at half-time after picking up a knock.
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Having just the mid-match break to get warmed up, Olsen went onto the pitch and into a goalmouth to do some drills and get himself ready for the second half action to begin. Meanwhile, in typical half-time fashion, a group of young Palace supporters were on the pitch for a penalty competition at the same end of the pitch, which meant Olsen was in the way.
His refusal to move out of the goal to allow the penalty competition to take place led to criticism of the Villa player.
Aston Villa goalkeeper Robin Olsen
In the video on social media he can be seen practice intercepting crosses as the kids wait to take the penalty
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The 35-year-old has spoken about the incident to Fotbollskanalen, saying: “ At that time, I felt like they were trying to provoke me. It became a very big deal, which is incredibly sad.
"The goalkeeper warm-up before a match is 40 minutes and I was supposed to do it in 12-13 minutes at half-time. We went straight to our side where we warmed up.
"Then they came in the middle of everything and then there were scenes. Unfortunately, it has become a big deal. I got a lot of rubbish, just for the sake of the children.”
Olsen went on to reveal that he had spoken with one of the parents who had written to him not understanding why he had received so much flak.
Aston Villa's Robin Olsen
Olsen has now looked to make things right(Image: CameraSport via Getty Images)
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Olsen has also looked to make things right with the young fans, inviting one of them and their family around for a kickabout and some lunch - where he assured them they could take some penalties against him.
He added: “It wasn’t a situation I wanted to end up in. A very unnecessary situation when I thought I was there to do my job. I don’t really know what I would have done. Would I have gone over to the other goal when Crystal Palace players were warming up on that half of the pitch?
"It was just an unnecessary thing. Of course, when there are children involved, it never ends well. But I’m incredibly happy that we were able to find a solution with one of the kids."