Omar Marmoush stepped up in the FA Cup final at Wembley but his penalty was saved by Dean Henderson
Marmoush took his first penalty for City in the FA Cup final, but missed
Marmoush took his first penalty for City in the FA Cup final, but missed (Action Images via Reuters)
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Omar Marmoush missed a penalty for Manchester City in the FA Cup final - but the question was why Erling Haaland did not take the spot-kick in their shock defeat to Crystal Palace at Wembley.
With City trailing to Eberechi Eze’s early goal, following a dominant spell from Pep Guardiola’s side, Tyrick Mitchell fouled Bernardo Silva in the box to give City the chance to equalise.
After a long VAR check, City’s top-scorer Haaland stood with the ball in his hands.
But the striker instead handed it over to forward Marmoush and the Egyptian saw his effort saved by Palace goalkeeper Dean Henderson, who was fortunate to be on the pitch.
Haaland has missed three penalties for Manchester City this season, scoring four. Marmoush had never taken a penalty for City before the FA Cup final, but had scored his previous seven for Eintracht Frankfurt.
Guardiola denied that he had taken Haaland off penalty duties and said the players had decided for themselves who was going to take it.
He told the BBC: “I don’t know, they take the decisions on the penalties. I like the guys who take the initiative. They decide.”
Henderson conceded he was confident he could save the penalty when Marmoush stepped up instead of Haaland.
The goalkeeper said: “If Haaland might've stepped up, I didn't know which way he'd go, but Marmoush, I knew which way he was going.”
Guardiola raised also doubts over Haaland’s fitness before the final. The Manchester City manager said: “We're lucky to have him, we're not good without his goals, I don't know if he can play the whole game."
On the BBC, former England and Manchester United striker Wayne Rooney was shocked that Marmoush took the penalty over Haaland, and suggested that Guardiola had made the decision beforehand.
Haaland is yet to score at Wembley, having now blanked in all five of his appearances there. Yet Gary Lineker said on the BBC that everyone was “shocked” that Haaland didn’t take the penalty.
“I think it’s been taken off him,” Rooney said.
When Lineker suggested that he couldn’t have overruled Guardiola’s decision, Rooney replied: “I think there are moments you can. I think Haaland should have taken the penalty
Former England and Newcastle striker Alan Shearer added: “There's no way anyone is saying to me 'you're not taking a penalty today if we get a penalty today'.”