England and Aston Villa midfielder Jack Grealish has revealed that he offered to take the final penalty in the shootout against Italy in the Euro 2020 finals but was turned down by head coach Gareth Southgate.
The 3 Lions lost 3 – 2 on penalties with 19 year old Bukayo Saka missing the crucial kick that handed the title to the Italians.
Following the defeat, senior members of the squad have been criticized for not taking responsibility but rather deferring to a younger inexperienced player.
Taking to his twitter handle to defend himself, Grealish disclosed that he informed the manager of his willingness to take the final kick.
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
However ,England manager Gareth Southgate has taken ultimate responsibility for the defeat insisting that he selected the penalty takers as well as the order in which they were taken.
