Eberechi Eze has been criticised after his “nonsense” approach to taking a penalty in Arsenal’s Champions League final defeat by Paris Saint-Germain.
The England midfielder stepped up second for Mikel Arteta’s side in Saturday night’s dramatic shootout in Budapest that followed a tense 1-1 draw after extra time, looking to keep things level after Viktor Gyokeres had netted in between successful efforts from PSG pair Goncalo Ramos and Desire Doue.
However, Eze missed the target completely from 12 yards as he pulled the ball wide low of the left-hand post, with goalkeeper Matvey Safonov relieved after choosing to stay down the middle.
Eze’s build-up to his penalty included a series of quick-fire stutter steps, eventually slowing to dispatch his effort after a failed attempt to get Safonov to commit to a dive in either direction ahead of the strike.
It proved costly as Arsenal went on to lose the shootout 4-3, with David Raya immediately saving from Nuno Mendes following Eze’s miss but Gabriel later blazing the decisive spot-kick over the crossbar after Declan Rice, Achraf Hakimi, Gabriel Martinelli and Lucas Beraldo had all scored.
Gabriel also put a couple of stutter steps into his run-up before firing over as Arsenal missed out on a maiden Champions League triumph that would have secured a memorable trophy double following their first Premier League title win for 22 years, with PSG instead becoming only the second club in the Champions League era to clinch back-to-back titles.
During TNT Sport’s coverage of the final, Liverpool legend Steven Gerrard said of Eze’s approach in his role as a pundit: “Think about the magnitude of the game, the stadium, the atmosphere, it’s hard enough without any of that nonsense.
“Put your foot through it, back your technique.”
Fellow pundit Owen Hargreaves, the former England and Manchester United midfielder, said: “I’ve never been a big fan of the stutter step. I just think it puts you under more pressure, especially if the goalkeeper is standing still.
“I think that stutter step.... I prefer the Harry Kane one, where you just pick your corner and smash it in the corner. I think we saw some brilliant ones, Declan’s, we saw some fantastic penalties.
“I just think that one, if you stutter step, you can put a bit of doubt in your own mind if the goalkeeper doesn’t move. The one thing I would say is you have to hit the target.
“If the goalkeeper saves it, he saves it. The two that missed, you don’t even really give yourself a chance to score.
“I feel for the lads because they are two brilliant players and brilliant lads. They will have to learn from this.”
