- Dec 14, 2005
- 226
- 28
Chelsea's Nicolas Anelka has admitted he refused to take the penalty which would have won the Champions League.
The Frenchman showed no shame as he claimed he hadn't warmed up enough to take the Blues' crucial fifth spot kick, which John Terry missed in dramatic fashion.
Anelka said he wasn't ready even though he had been on the pitch for over 10 minutes.
He told l'Equipe: "I was on the bench for 110 minutes and the coach brought me on after warming up for no more than a minute. Then he asked me whether I wanted to take one of the penalties.
"Absolutely not, I said. I had to play as wing back and now he wanted me to take a penalty?"
Anelka then went seventh and missed anyway. "Edwin Van Der Sar made a good save," he said. "Good for him. That's football."
The Frenchman showed no shame as he claimed he hadn't warmed up enough to take the Blues' crucial fifth spot kick, which John Terry missed in dramatic fashion.
Anelka said he wasn't ready even though he had been on the pitch for over 10 minutes.
He told l'Equipe: "I was on the bench for 110 minutes and the coach brought me on after warming up for no more than a minute. Then he asked me whether I wanted to take one of the penalties.
"Absolutely not, I said. I had to play as wing back and now he wanted me to take a penalty?"
Anelka then went seventh and missed anyway. "Edwin Van Der Sar made a good save," he said. "Good for him. That's football."
Sulky Anelka then continued his moan, saying: "I don’t know if that has ever happened in a Champions League final, in a match of that intensity, that a player has gone on to the pitch without having warmed up.
"When you go on, you have to be ready to run."
that really doesnt surprise anyone does it? You would have thought all the clubs he'd previously fallen out with would be enough evidence to show why he's not the sort you want anywhere near your team. He cares for nothing but himself
"When you go on, you have to be ready to run."
that really doesnt surprise anyone does it? You would have thought all the clubs he'd previously fallen out with would be enough evidence to show why he's not the sort you want anywhere near your team. He cares for nothing but himself