It was Paul Pogba, and not Romelu Lukaku who took (and missed) a late penalty kick for Manchester United, who rallied from being down 1-0 and won at home 3-2 over Southampton today.
Andreas Pereira scored the other goal for United, who went back up on Arsenal for fourth place in the table by virtue of their win and the Gunners’ very controversial draw with Tottenham. However, there is plenty of controversy right now among the United fan base online, who really believe that Lukaku should have been given the PK opportunity instead of Pogba.
https://twitter.com/Sirvicci/status/1101888599849603072
This decision denied Lukaku an opportunity of achieving a hat trick, but one has to wonder how much discontent and angst there would be had Pogba converted. The Frenchman does have a good track record when it comes to PKs in Premier League competition.
As for Lukaku, he was totally fine with the midfielder being granted the opportunity over himself.
“I am a striker and I wanted Paul Pogba to score the penalty, he has been on a good run but he has been an important player for us,” Big Rom told the BBC after the game.
This was the kind of game that Lukaku badly needed. Sure, it was against a very weak opponent, but he’s had a rough go as of late, and since he lost his starting gig to Marcus Rashford many were wondering about his future with the club.
Romelu Lukaku this season:
? Only started 58% of PL games
? Overtook Didier Drogba in all-time PL top scorers list
? Scored double digits in the league for the 7th consecutive season
? Averaged 0.6 goals per 90
?Man Utd’s top scorer in the league
Respect. ??? pic.twitter.com/iLUVtRXeN7
— Statman Dave (@StatmanDave) March 2, 2019
Saturday provided the perfect kind of confidence boost that your given striker needs from time to time. Up next for United is a trip to Paris Saint-Germain on Wednesday for the second half of their UCL round of 16 tie.
Paul M. Banks runs The Sports Bank.net, which is partnered with News Now. Banks, a former writer for NBC Chicago.com and Chicago Tribune.com, regularly appears as a guest pundit on WGN CLTV and co-hosts the “Let’s Get Weird, Sports” podcast on SB Nation.
He also contributes sociopolitical essays to Chicago Now. Follow him on Twitter and Instagram. The content of his cat’s Instagram account is unquestionably superior to his.