WAYNE ROONEY believes that Erling Haaland was taken off penalty duties ahead of the FA Cup final.
The Norwegian gave Manchester City’s first-half FA Cup final spot kick to team-mate Omar Marmoush… having never scored at Wembley.
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The 24-year-old has banged in the goals for City since joining from Borussia Dortmund in 2022, but went into Saturday’s showdown having failed to score in four appearances at the national stadium.
Wembley is one of just three English grounds that Haaland has played at and not scored; alongside Brentford‘s Gtech Stadium and Liverpool‘s Anfield.
When Tyrick Mitchell brought down Bernardo Silva in the box, Haaland could have had a chance to score from the spot on 36 minutes.
But he instead handed the ball to Marmoush, who saw his tame penalty saved by Eagles keeper Dean Henderson – with Haaland failing to convert the rebound.
City’s No9 has missed three of his seven penalties this season.
Marmoush, meanwhile, had converted four out of four from the spot this season, all for Eintracht Frankfurt during the first half of the campaign.
When BBC pundit Micah Richards questioned Haaland’s decision to hand the penalty to Marmoush, Rooney claimed: “I don’t think he’s given it away.
“I think it’s been taken off him before the game, I think it’s been decided (pre-match).”
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When Lineker added “you can’t override the manager”, Rooney insisted: “There’s moments you can. And I think Haaland should have taken the penalty.”
Henderson was lucky to still be on the pitch to save Marmoush’s penalty.
The former Manchester United stopper escaped a red card despite deliberately handling outside his box, thwarting a chance for Haaland to score.
Lineker revealed at half-time: “This is what VAR have said: ‘The direction in which Erling Haaland was going made it possible, but not an obvious goal scoring opportunity’.”
Rooney replied by demanding football chiefs scrap VAR.
Palace already led at the time via Eberechi Eze‘s 16th minute strike.
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