Everton striker, Dominic Calvert-Lewin, told Sky Sports that Liverpool’s, Jordan Henderson, told him ‘he hasn’t scored for England yet’ before their penalty drama on Sunday.
When Everton’s number nine won a penalty for his country against Romania, it seemed as though he was destined to take the spot-kick.
But the Liverpool midfielder opted to take the ball off the Everton man, take the penalty and then see his spot-kick saved.
England still went onto win the game 1-0 before their Euro 2020 opener against Croatia this Sunday, but it was a talking point regarding the Everton and Liverpool duo.
And Calvert-Lewin shared what he was told by Henderson before everything unfolded.
“He said that ‘he hasn’t scored for England yet’, so he wanted the penalty,” said Calvert-Lewin.
“Maybe in hindsight as a number nine, I should have taken the penalty. But on another day, he puts that into the back of the net.
“It’s maybe one of those things. If I want to go to the next level then I have to be more ruthless there and take the penalty.”
Given that Henderson was wearing the England armband, it would have been pretty hard for the Everton player to argue with his national teammate.
But in truth, with Marcus Rashford, Harry Kane and James Ward-Prowse off the field of play, it should have been Calvert-Lewin taking the spot-kick.
Luckily, all of this happened in a friendly encounter and not during a competitive game, and it’s pretty clear that Henderson won’t be taking penalties any time soon other than during shootouts.
But now all attention will be on that Croatia game and the Three Lions trying to get off to a winning start.
England have never won the opening game of a European Championships, so no better way to start than this weekend.
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