Manchester City winger Riyad Mahrez has been criticised for his missed penalty in the 0-0 Uefa Champions League draw against Copenhagen on Tuesday.
The former Leicester City player endured a frustrating night at Parken Stadium. First, Man City thought they had taken the lead when Rodri’s strike beat goalkeeper Kamil Grabara but it was ruled out by the referee due to a handball in the build-up from Mahrez.
The Algeria international then got a chance to redeem himself after the Citizens were awarded a penalty but his left-footed effort was saved by Grabara.
His frustrating night got even worse when he was substituted for Ruben Dias in the 32nd minute.
His display has left fans across Africa debating on social media, with some calling for the club to take away penalty duties from the player and hand it to Erling Haaland.
Mahrez just played 32 minutes, but he has caused enough damage to Manchester City. He caused the handball that resulted in Rodri’s goal being disallowed, and he made things worse by missing a penalty.
I hope he is benched for life. - @imbrakoby
I don’t think Mahrez should be our main pen taker anymore 🤷🏽♂️- @ErlingEuphoria
The worst penalty taker of all time 🤣🤣. - @Jack_LIV_
Riyad Mahrez is absolutely horrendous at penalties 😂😂. - @nhoblcfc
Pep should sell Mahrez and bring Mbappe to City. Mahrez is as wasteful as Sterling #UCL - @iamAbiodunAA
He should just leave the team immediately... We don't need him again. - @ibn_sirojudeen
Liability... honestly... if Pep is going to keep him, he should be a squad player… only coming on when games are comfortably won and he needs to rest proper players. - @ErskineSam
In all honesty though, Pep needs to get a proper winger to rely on other than Mahrez.
Good maybe now you’ll realise just how overrated he is!!! He needs to go back to Leicester City. - @shaunleroux1
Hopefully, we can finally close this Riyad Mahrez Chapter. Let him play Carabao Cup games and academy minutes till we move him on to Marseille for 23 mill next summer. - @FodenTime
Mahrez deserves more from Man City fans, he contributed so much to get us to the final. I'm never forgetting that. - @Anthony73829054
I can truly understand the frustration from Man City fans, I do, I feel the pain as well, but Mahrez has done more and I'm not going to be one of those turning on him during his bad moments when I know he's still got more to offer, Mahrez might not be inform, but he's not finished. - @Anthony73829054
He always miss penalties, and still given opportunity. Why is Guardiola sleeping on duty? - @MunyanyiStephen
Pep as usual is destroying his [Mahrez] confidence, just like he did to several struggling players. - @kingoje1
I don’t understand how Mahrez who is not a regular starter is our first choice penalty taker. It makes no sense. - @BullionCzar
Man City should definitely switch their penalty taker. They should calculate the statistics and find who has the better conversion rate overall on the basis of a fixed penalty kick amount, for example conversion rate per 20 penalties. - @Sniper_CraftYT
Take Mahrez off pens for good... How many more does he have to miss for you to realise he is no good from the spot? Have Alvarez and Haaland on penalty duty. No one else if they’re on the pitch. - @Trayne_musicx
Haaland has to be the new penalty taker when he's on the pitch. - @MCR__citeh
Just hope he never takes penalties when Haaland is on the pitch. - @MpKofi
We should not pressure Mahrez, all the best players in the world are wasting a penalty and Mahrez has always scored a lot of penalty kicks for us. - @Issam642307521
We still believe in #Mahrez ❤ - @hooba42
Poor old Riyad he's having a bad time of it BUT we need to support him because we all know he is quality. - @Honleyblue
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