Keane had questioned why Saka stepped up to take the crucial penalty for England.
Aston Villa and England star Jack Grealish has hit back criticism from Roy Keane over why he didn’t take a penalty in the shootout ahead of Bukayo Saka.
After England’s penalty heartbreak in the Euro 2020 final against Italy, Keane said:
“If you’re [Raheem] Sterling or Grealish, you cannot sit there and have a young kid go up for a penalty ahead of you, you can’t.
“You cannot let a shy 19-year-old go up in front of you. They have a lot more experience, Sterling has won trophies, they had to get in front of the young kid and stand up.”
Jose Mourinho took a similar line to Keane on the spot-kicks, criticising senior players like John Stones and Luke Shaw (again!) for not stepping up.
Grealish has now responded to the criticism, saying that he in fact did want to take a penalty in the shootout. In a post on Twitter, Grealish wrote:
“I said I wanted to take one!!!!
“The gaffer has made so many right decisions through this tournament and he did tonight! But I won’t have people say that I didn’t want to take a peno when I said I will…”
I said I wanted to take one!!!!
The gaffer has made so many right decisions through this tournament and he did tonight! But I won’t have people say that I didn’t want to take a peno when I said I will… https://t.co/3mBpKyMoUV— Jack Grealish (@JackGrealish) July 12, 2021
He was not taking that lying down.
