Whatever he said, it clearly worked
Footage has emerged of James Maddison ‘psyching out’ Mohamed Salah moments before the forward missed a penalty in the first-half of Liverpool’s defeat at the King Power Stadium on Tuesday.
The Egyptian was awarded a spot-kick when Leicester City midfielder Wilfred Ndidi brought him down inside the penalty area.
Salah has a spectacular record from 12 yards, having missed just two of his 20 penalties for the Reds.
However, he was unable to convert from the spot as Kasper Schmeichel saved his penalty, before his rebounded header hit the bar and was cleared away.
Replays of the spot-kick show Maddison speaking into Salah’s ear as he waited for the referee to blow his whistle, with the midfielder then taking up a position directly behind the Liverpool man as he ran up to take the penalty.
Wonder what James Maddison said to Mo Salah before his penalty? 👀#PLonPrime #LEILIV pic.twitter.com/nvZtR5VWlV
— Amazon Prime Video Sport (@primevideosport) December 28, 2021
The away side had a number of chances throughout the game, with Schmeichel making a number of good saves to deny Jürgen Klopp’s men.
Sadio Mane missed a glorious opportunity after Diogo Jota slipped him through with an inviting through ball, but the Senegalese forward blasted his strike over the crossbar.
Despite dominating much of the tie, it was Brendan Rodgers’ side who scored the only goal of the game when substitute and former Everton man Ademola Lookman calmly finished past Alisson in the second-half.
Liverpool continued to press for an equaliser, but the Foxes were resilient in their defending and managed to prevent the visitors from scoring late into the tie.
The defeat leaves the Reds six points behind league-leaders Manchester City, but Klopp’s side have now played the same number of games as their title rivals.
For Leicester, they move into ninth position, level on points with Wolves who currently sit in eighth.
Related links:
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- Sean Dyche claims player welfare is ‘off the scale’ following Jurgen Klopp’s comments
- Jurgen Klopp speaks out against congested Christmas fixture schedule, again
