James Milner divided Liverpool fans by stripping the ball off Mo Salah today.
James Milner scored a penalty for Liverpool in the 2-0 win away to Cardiff City this evening.
Jurgen Klopp’s side badly needed the three points to go back above Manchester City in the Premier League table.
But Liverpool responded well to the pressure and saw off the Bluebirds relatively easily.
Mo Salah won the penalty on 81 minutes and the Egyptian superstar – level with City’s Sergio Aguero in the hunt for the Golden Boot, with 19 goals apiece – tried to keep the ball to take it, but Milner over-ruled him and dispatched the spot-kick well.
The veteran Reds midfielder, Klopp’s first-choice penalty taker, sent a post-match message, but some fans of the Anfield club were quick to point out that Salah should have been allowed to convert it.
Many more fans agreed that Milner is in the right, and there’s no question that he was.
Yes, Salah might have turned down a Man of the Match award and given it to his Liverpool team-mate instead, but that isn’t a license to take any penalty he wants.
The Golden Boot is nowhere near as important as the Premier League title is for Liverpool and therefore Milner did what any leader would have done.
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