Gabriel Jesus insists he is not afraid to take penalties in the future despite Pep Guardiola taking the responsibility away from the Manchester City striker.
The Brazilian forward has missed all three spot-kicks he has taken for club and country this season as well as missing in last summer’s Copa America for Brazil.
After his penalty was saved in the midweek victory over Sheffield United, team-mate Ilkay Gundogan took over the duty to open the scoring in Sunday's 4-0 victory over Fulham.
Jesus added two late goals but could have had a hat-trick had he taken the spot-kick and the 22-year-old insists he has no fear of taking them in the future.
“In the training sessions I take them and I score more than I miss,” he said. “If I take five I miss one and sometimes I don’t miss.
“In games it’s been different. I’ve taken three this season - two here and one with the national team Brazil - and I missed all three.
“When you miss three in a row you go to the next one under pressure to score. So that’s the challenge. I have in my mind that I have to train more and improve more of course.
“Normally the manager puts on the paper in the dressing room before the game who are the penalty takers. Last game I was the penalty taker and here normally I am the taker but it was Gundo. That’s football. Sometimes you have to stop, improve and come back strong.”
Guardiola admitted that penalties have become a problem with Raheem Sterling and Sergio Aguero also missing in the past 12 months.
Goalkeeper Ederson was suggested as a possible alternative and Jesus says that his fellow Brazilian would have no problems if he was called into action.
“Ederson is a very cool guy. It’s true he doesn’t have blood [in his veins],” he added. “If the manager said to him take them, I think he’s going to score.”
City face another big cup fixture on Wednesday night when they secure a place in the League Cup final for a third successive year with a victory over Manchester United.
The holders have a 3-1 advantage from the first leg but Jesus says they cannot take anything for granted after Ole Gunnar Solskjaer’s side surprisingly beat them at the Etihad Stadium in the Premier League last month.
“It’s going to be a hard, very good derby here,” he said. “It doesn’t matter the first game. We never know what can happen so we have to focus on United too and play well and qualify.”