Luis Diaz has shared how he was left in disbelief by Fabinho’s determination to stick with a Panenka for his spot-kick were the Carabao Cup final to go to penalty shootout.
The Brazilian stuck to his guns as both Liverpool and Chelsea failed to find the necessary goal in normal and extra-time, beating Kepa Arrizabalaga with an audacious effort.
“It’s true! In the days leading up to the final, we were taking penalty kicks and we practised together for sure,” the Colombian told liverpoolfc.com.
“He’d been joking around saying, ‘If it goes to penalties, I’m doing a Panenka.’ And I said, ‘I can’t believe it.’ I was laughing at him, saying, ‘No, you can’t do that! If it goes wrong, the fans take it badly in a final.’
“So when the moment came and he’s stepping up, I’m thinking, ‘Blimey, is he going to do this?’
“When it came off how it did, it just shows the class and quality of the player that he did it.
“I was kind of shocked and surprised in a good way how it came about.”
The Merseysiders went on to secure their first piece of silverware of the season via Caoimhin Kelleher’s winning penalty.
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Whilst Mo Salah was with the Egyptian national team for the AFCON, we got more than a sneak-peek into our Brazilian international’s quality from the spot.
Our No.3 put away two spot-kicks against Crystal Palace and Shrewsbury Town respectively amongst two other efforts from open play whilst our African contingent was away from the squad.
Though better known for his superb performances shielding the backline, it certainly helps to have so much quality when it comes to penalty-takers present in the side – as was recently well-demonstrated at Wembley.
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Yes, I’m sure he said ‘Blimey’