Chelsea’s shock 1-0 Champions League defeat to crisis-hit Valencia on Tuesday will be dominated by one incident, and one incident alone.
In the 87th minute, the home side had a perfect chance to earn a point when they were awarded a penalty.
Ross Barkley, only on the pitch for seven minutes as a substitute, insisted that he would take the spot-kick – turning away Jorginho, Willian and Tammy Abraham, who came over to confront him.
His three team-mates – particularly Jorginho, who has a brilliant record from the spot – have all taken high-profile penalties in the past.
But Barkley held firm after being asked if he was ready to take it. It looked to come to the displeasure of the two Brazilian-born stars – with Jorginho shaking his head and Willian tersely pulling up his socks before walking away.
The Englishman failed to justify his actions, though, as he blazed the ball over the bar.
Tuesday’s incident brought back memories of a similar episode involving Manchester United last month.
During United’s 1-1 draw with Wolves at Molineux, Paul Pogba caused a storm after insisting he took a second-half penalty instead of Marcus Rashford.
Rashford had scored the previous weekend against Chelsea and had a far superior penalty record to Pogba, who proceeded to see his effort saved by Wolves goalkeeper Rui Patricio.
Getty Images
Getty Images
Pogba was lambasted for his behaviour as Man Utd dropped two points, and Barkley is now facing similar treatment from angry fans on social media following his actions.
Manager Frank Lampard did his best to calm the waters at full-time by insisting that Barkley was actually his first-choice penalty taker.
“Ross has been the penalty taker in pre-season, Ross has been the penalty taker for us,” Lampard insisted to beIN Sports.
“He missed. He didn’t start the game but he is our penalty taker. It’s just a shame he missed.”
In the end, Chelsea will feel they were unlucky to lose – with Rodrigo grabbing the only goal for a side in disarray after their players and fans opposed the sacking of former coach Marcelino last week.
The defeat means that Lampard is still winless in his first three home games in charge, with Liverpool next to visit west London on Sunday.
The manager will also be disappointed that he could not build on his side's best performance this term after they beat Wolves 5-2 away at the weekend.
They stuck with the much-improved 3-4-3 system from that game. And while the formation gave them a certain solidity, they were lacking a real Eden Hazard-esque difference maker in the final third.
Mason Mount’s early injury did not help matters, either, with his replacement Pedro looking very rusty in his first game in a month.
However, the only story that everyone will be talking about following this defeat is the Barkley penalty incident. It is an incident that everyone at Chelsea will need to move on from very quickly.
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