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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 against 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 handed it over to forward Marmoush. The Egyptian saw his effort saved by 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 raised 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 blanked in his previous four appearances there. Yet Gary Lineker said on the BBC that everyone was “shocked” that Haaland didn’t take it.
“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'.”
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