Josko Gvardiol has shared what was said between him and the Manchester City players before the late penalty in their 4-0 win over Fulham.
The defender bagged two goals at Craven Cottage and was on course to score a hat-trick with less than 20 minutes of the game left to play.
In the final minutes of the match, City were awarded a penalty after Issa Diop fouled Julian Alvarez, which ultimately saw the defender get sent off after getting his second yellow card of the game.
Before the penalty was taken, Gvardiol was spotted speaking to City captain Kyle Walker before eventually walking away from the penalty area and seeing Alvarez take and score the spot kick.
Once the game had ended, the Croatian spoke to the media about his performance and revealed the nature of the pre-penalty discussions that took place on the field.
Gvardiol shares what was said before late City penalty
Speaking on TNT Sports after the full-time whistle, Gvardiol has this to say about his goals and the late penalty against Fulham.
He said: “Another two goals, [I’m] happy. Of course, a clean sheet, I’m happy [with that] as well.
“We were discussing about me taking a penalty but I said that, of course, I would like to take it but we know who is the taker.
“So, at the end, it was Julian. [I’m] happy for him to score a goal.”
Gvardiol showed his class vs Fulham
The 22-year-old took his goal tally for the season to four scored in 26 Premier League games, all of which have come in his five previous league outings.
Bearing in mind how there have been some on-pitch arguments about who takes penalties in other Premier League teams at times this season, most notably, Chelsea, the fact that Gvardiol was happy to see Alvarez take and score this penalty against Fulham shows that he put the team over his own ego.
This will undoubtedly please Guardiola and the City supporters and show how much of a team player the defender is, even when he could have ended the match at Craven Cottage with the match ball if he’d been the one to put the penalty away.