Manchester United midfielder Bruno Fernandes has issued a message to Manchester City counterpart Raheem Sterling regarding penalties.
United 's number of spot-kicks this season has led to criticism, with Liverpool boss Jurgen Klopp among them, while fans on social media often claim scoring from the spot is 'stat-padding'.
Fernandes has hit back at that suggestion though, discussing the challenge of taking a penalty and stating it's not as easy as some think.
In order to make his point, he drew Sterling into the equation as he stated that the England international has missed his last three spot-kicks.
“One thing I saw in the news the other day was that Raheem Sterling has missed his last three penalties,” he said.
“So, yes, it shows it’s not as easy to take a penalty as people say. You have to work on that, you have to be focused, you have to do your job. It’s clear like that.
“It does not mean Raheem Sterling is not a good penalty taker because he missed three in a row. It can happen. It could maybe happen to me but the important thing is to score and not to listen to what people say because penalties are part of the game, for everyone.”
Sterling has missed three of the four penalties he has taken in the Premier League for City, including in midweek during the 1-0 victory over Brighton.
The former Liverpool man also failed to score against Watford in July last year and Wolves in December 2019 but did find the net in September 2017 against Watford.
