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, Keane said: “If you’re Sterling or Grealish, you cannot sit there and have a young kid go up for a penalty ahead of you.”
Roy Keane has just laid into Raheem Sterling and Jack Grealish for letting Saka take that decisive fifth penalty 👀 #EURO2020 pic.twitter.com/kECAh1FMEQ
— Balls.ie (@ballsdotie) July 11, 2021
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
After Jorginho had seen his penalty saved by Jordan Pickford, 19-year-old Bukayo Saka stepped up to take the must-score penalty to keep the shootout going. However he saw his spotkick saved by Italian keeper Donnarumma, resulting in Italy winning the shoot out 3-2 and picking up their first European Championship title since 1968.
Marcus Rashford and Jadon Sancho also saw their penalties saved, with both having spent just minutes on the pitch before the shootout.
All three players have since received a slew of vile racist abuse online vile racist abuse online.
