Gabby Agbonlahor claims Chelsea’s Romelu Lukaku would never have the confidence to copy the Panenka penalty from Real Madrid forward Karim Benzema last night in the Champions League.
Madrid, who knocked out Chelsea in the Champions League quarter-finals, played the first leg of their semi on Tuesday night.
The Spanish giants were beaten 4-3 away to Manchester City on a memorable European night, but are definitely still in the tie going into next week’s second leg at the Bernabeu.
Benzema, 34, scored the final goal of yesterday’s match with a ridiculously composed penalty late on to make it 4-3.
His dinked penalty was a sign of the confidence from a player that’s scored 41 goals in 41 games across all competitions this season.
TalkSPORT pundit Agbonlahor has taken a slightly unnecessary dig at Chelsea striker Lukaku when reacting to Benzema’s spot-kick. In fairness, he may only be trying to highlight how ridiculously brave it was from the Madrid frontman, while comparing it to a player in Lukaku that really lacks self belief right now.
“Imagine Lukaku, if he took a penalty now, he’s never trying that. You’re going to kick it as hard as you can and try get yourself off the mark. For me, it’s confidence,” Agbonlahor told talkSPORT.
Complete opposites
First of all, Benzema is operating on a completely different level to most players in the world right now. If the Ballon d’Or vote was today, it wouldn’t be a surprise to see the talisman win the individual award.
Meanwhile, Lukaku is a player that’s not on cloud nine like his Madrid counterpart.
The 28-year-old forward has lost his starting position in Thomas Tuchel’s best Chelsea XI, so is turning out to be a flop this season.
There’s definitely a confidence barrier he needs to jump over because there’s been a massive drop off in the level of his performances.
His return of 12 goals in 39 Blues appearances this season is down on what most expected. The more concerning factor is that he’s struggling to fit into the system.
The Belgian only re-signed for Chelsea in the summer, but ESPN pundit Don Hutchison already thinks there’s a high chance he’s sold this summer. Paul Canoville previously suggested he would move him on at the end of the season.
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