Pep Guardiola says Erling Haaland and Riyad Mahrez should have pulled rank over the penalty blunder which almost cost Manchester City dear.
Guardiola was furious when City’s stars offered Ilkay Gundogan the chance of completing a hat-trick from the spot in the 84th minute, only for the German star to miss.
Seconds later Leeds pulled a goal back to set up a nervy finish and Guardiola said: ‘If it’s 2-0, who is the taker? The taker is Erling or Riyad.’
Guardiola was furious at the time and was seen shouting: ‘You should have taken it’ to 42-goal top scorer Haaland.
And the City boss added: ‘At 2-0 especially in England, the game never is over. I wanted the taker to take it, they have more routines and specialists.
‘Saying that, Gundo could have scored, and other ones could have missed. But it’s not about that. I admire that Gundo wanted to take responsibility to take the penalty. That is the best value as a player. But normally the taker is the taker, Erling has to take it, he’s the specialist.’
And Gundogan admitted that Guardiola let the players know he was unhappy in the dressing room.
‘First, he showed to Erling that he was quite mad about that and then also he had a go at me,’
Gundogan said. ‘The moment Erling grabbed the ball, I was sure he was going to take it but he looked out for me. I checked with him a few times to make sure he was sure.’
