Antonio Conte Explains Why Thibaut Courtois Took a Penalty Against Arsenal
Thibaut Courtois' penalty miss during the Community Shield shootout against Arsenal proved one of the biggest talking points from Chelsea's loss on Sunday.
The Belgian stopper was allowed to take the Blues' second spot kick at the end of the match, which ended 1-1 in regular time, and missed quite sensationally by blasting way over the top.
Antonio Conte faced some of criticism for his decision. But following the game, he told the press that Courtois is one of the best penalty kick takers in training.
“Courtois is one of the best players to kick a penalty,” the manager explained (H/T Express).
“If you have a player who shows you during the training sessions to be one of the best then you pick him to shoot the penalty.
“Don’t forget that also Morata is a forward and he did the same.”
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Petr Cech, the former Chelsea stopper, was in goal for Arsenal. And he had very little to do, with both Courtois and Alvaro Morata missing their spot kicks.
He reckons his familiarity with most of the Blues squad gave him a bit of an advantage against his former team.
"We played together and we made a lot of challenges during the training session in the penalty shootout," he said post-game.
"This is not usually where he shoots, so this is probably why he missed because normally he buries it in the top corner on the other side, the way I went. So obviously, maybe the fact that we know each other and I know their players made it more difficult for them."
