Pep Guardiola hailed fearless Riyad Mahrez after he made it seven successful penalties on the trot to send Manchester City 12 points clear at the top of the Premier League. Guardiola has never interfered with his players deciding who takes penalties, so he was happy for Mahrez to step aside after that Anfield miss. He said Aguero was the main man at that point
Pep Guardiola said: “I never push the players to take responsibility. They have to feel it. Riyad is a guarantee now, he’s so clever, he can shoot in both sides and effectively because they are strong to the corners. He is taking them really well so no more decisive in the final third because it is so difficult to be constant in the way they play.”
The manager said it was not a case of Mahrez being affected by skying his spot-kick high over the bar on Merseyside.
Pep Guardiola said: “In Anfield he hit the penalty in a different way but it was a long time ago. He has a special quality, which is no fear. It doesn’t matter what happened, he takes it. It doesn’t matter if the previous action had not been good, he takes the huge one. Today he was not good one vs one, two vs two, in part because it was so difficult.”
