Chelsea manager Mauricio Pochettino has confirmed that Cole Palmer is the club’s penalty taker after an embarrassing spat with Nicolas Jackson and Noni Madueke on Monday, April 15 night.
Chelsea were running riot under Stamford Bridge lights against Everton when they were awarded a penalty in the second half, with 4-0 up.
With Palmer already scoring a first-half hat-trick, both Madueke and Jackson claimed the spot kick for themselves.
Pushing and shoving
A moment of pushing and shoving then ensured, before Thiago Silva came to diffuse the tensions that were clearly building up. For a moment, it looked settled that Madueke was taking the penalty, but not until Palmer took the ball from his team-mate.
Chelsea Captain Conor Gallagher also intervened and insisted on Palmer taking the penalty, and that was decided.
As cool as you may like, the 21-year-old scored his fourth goal of the night, as Chelsea went on to score two more goals, and finish the game 6-0 up.
Pochettino: ‘Shame!’
In his post-match interviews, Pochettino apologised to Chelsea fans over the “shameful” behaviour. He also set the record straight on who is Chelsea’s penalty taker.
“To make it clear, the players and staff know that the taker on penalties is Cole Palmer. All that happened after is a shame. We were talking in the dressing room about the image we send in every single country and we cannot show this type of image.
“I want to apologise to our fans. The discipline is the most important thing,” Pochettino said.
