‘This time it went like that and I’m sorry. I feel bad because it’s not a nice feeling’
Jorginho has apologised for his penalty miss against West Ham at the weekend and suggested it was ‘harder to keep focus’ while VAR was checking the incident.
The Chelsea midfielder squandered the chance to secure all three points for the Blues on Sunday when he missed his spot-kick, sending his penalty straight into the hands of Hammers shot-stopper Lukasz Fabianski.
However, the Italian international was bailed out in stoppage time by Christian Pulisic, who came off the bench to score a dramatic late winner for Thomas Tuchel’s side.
The former Napoli man was criticised for his penalty-taking style after the failed spot-kick, with supporters and pundits slamming his unique ‘hop and skip’ technique. Despite this, the 30-year-old believes that he had ‘too much time’ to think about it.
Jorginho apologies for penalty blunder
Jorginho told Sky Sports: “This sort of pressure, especially in games like this when you need to win and it’s last minute, and you try to isolate your mind from all that pressure even though it’s hard, and then you have the VAR so it takes longer, it’s harder to keep focus.
“What you need to do and what I try to do is I try to isolate my mind of all this pressure, and unfortunately this time it didn’t work.
“When you have that little moment of doubt that’s usually when you make the mistake. Maybe I had too much time to think about it, I don’t know.
“This time it went like that and I’m sorry. I feel bad because it’s not a nice feeling.”
Chelsea midfielder Jorginho has apologised for his penalty miss against West Ham – and says #CFC will miss defender Antonio Rudiger if he leaves in the summer 🔊🔛 pic.twitter.com/FzzX4CH35t
— Sky Sports Premier League (@SkySportsPL) April 26, 2022
Sky Sports pundit Graeme Souness criticised Jorginho for his penalty blunder, saying: “Pathetic. It bounces before it gets to the goalkeeper.
“That’s exactly how not to take a penalty. Poor penalty.”
Christian Pulisic spares Jorginho’s blushes with a goal in the final moments after he missed a penalty ❌ pic.twitter.com/dRKmBa61Rd
— Football Daily (@footballdaily) April 24, 2022
Tuchel refuses to condemn Jorginho
However, Chelsea boss Tuchel refused to criticise the midfielder, urging him to continue taking penalties however he likes.
“Jorgi had a perfect record with us so normally you believe and we all believed we had finally the chance to score the goal we needed,” Tuchel said.
“He has a certain style of shooting. When he scores it looks unbelievable, cool, calm, composed.
“When he misses a penalty, it looks like: could he have done better?
“But it’s his style and he’s right to stick with it. He’s very upset with himself.”
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