Paulo Gazzaniga had a moment to forget during Tottenham Hotspur’s clash against Chelsea.
Gary Neville has blasted Paulo Gazzaniga for the manner in which he gave away a penalty during Tottenham’s 2-0 defeat to Chelsea on Sunday.
In the first half, with Chelsea leading 1-0, Gazzaniga came off his line in an erratic fashion and completely took out Marco Alonso – a passage of play which Neville described as an ‘assault’, ‘erratic’ and something that ‘doesn’t surprise’ him.
As mentioned, Willian had already opened the scoring with a brilliant curling effort and he then doubled Chelsea’s lead against Spurs from the penalty spot.
Speaking during his commentary stint on Sky Sports Premier League (22/12/19), Neville was initially shocked that Tottenham were awarded a free-kick before VAR overturned the decision.
“Oh, it’s a penalty, isn’t?!” Neville reacted on Sky Sports. “It cannot be the other way? I thought that was a penalty. Gazzaniga just misses the ball and clatters into him. Misses the ball. That is a penalty, surely? That’s a penalty for me!
“Well, there is a foul given against Alonso. I don’t know how that can be! He’s an erratic goalkeeper, it doesn’t surprise me. Honestly, it’s ridiculous. It’s an assault.
When the penalty was awarded by VAR: “I was never in doubt,” Neville added. “It was a penalty. WWF. Reckless from the goalkeeper.”
Gazzaniga isn’t Tottenham’s first-choice, with Hugo Lloris on the sidelines following the injury he suffered against Brighton earlier on in the season.
Ironically enough, Lloris suffered that shoulder injury when he made a mistake at the AMEX Stadium and whilst Gazzaniga hasn’t caused problems in between the sticks, his performance against Chelsea will be a worry now.
It is an area that Mourinho will perhaps look at in the long-term because whilst Lloris is a better keeper, he isn’t shy of making a mistake or two himself.
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