Crystal Palace wing-back Daniel Munoz has revealed he told Erling Haaland that Omar Marmoush would miss his penalty during Saturday's final. The Egyptian attacker appeared to grab the ball from his Norwegian team-mate before his spot-kick was saved brilliantly by Dean Henderson.
Eyebrows have since been raised that Marmoush took the penalty ahead of Haaland, Manchester City's regular taker. Munoz, however, claims the 24-year-old took no issue with relinquishing his responsibilities for his fellow attacker because Marmoush had previously scored eight of his last night penalties.
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The defender told : “I asked him why he didn’t take the penalty, since he was the team’s top scorer. He told me that his teammate was also a good kicker. So, I told him, ‘If you don’t take the penalty, he’ll miss.’ And he missed.”
Speaking after the defeat, City boss insisted he had no input on the decision which saw Marmoush take the penalty. The Spaniard said: "I thought he would want to take it but they didn't speak.
"That moment for the penalty, it's the feeling and how they feel. They decided Omar was ready to take it. Omar took a lot of time when the ball was stopped, so it put more pressure on him, and Henderson made a good save."
Meanwhile, Palace goalkeeper Henderson claimed he'd have been less confident about keeping Haaland out had the former frontman stepped up to the plate.
Henderson, who was fortunate to avoid a first-half red card after handling outside of his box, said: “To be fair, Haaland might have stepped up, I wasn’t sure which way he’d go. He gave it to Marmoush, I knew which way he was going, I knew I’d save it."
, who was working as a pundit on the match for the , claimed Haaland may have shirked the chance to take the penalty because of the pressure, stating: " is a world-class forward, but when we are talking about and , there is no way they are giving that ball away.
"That is what separates them two players from Erling Haaland or Kylian Mbappe and these players. They are selfish and they want to score every game. When he misses chances I think you can see it gets to him and it does affect him. Maybe the thought of taking a penalty at Wembley might have been too much for him. You never know, he is a human being."
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