‘Cheating’…Stan Collymore shares his verdict on Bukayo Saka’s penalty claim v Bayern Munich

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Should Bukayo Saka have had a penalty when he collided with Manuel Neuer in midweek against Bayern Munich?

That is the question that’s been on everyone’s lips since the game finished 2-2.

Saka clattered into German stopper Neuer but was dismissed in his appeals for a penalty, as both the referee and VAR officials refused to change their mind.

The challenge on Saka has caused a bit of a split among pundits. Jamie Carragher was among those to suggest it was the right call, while former Arsenal man Cesc Fabregas even conceded Saka had tried to win the penalty.

Of course, some disagree, and Arsenal fans – in the main – believe that most weeks that sort of collision gets them a penalty.

However, on the other side, some feel Saka has basically tried to ‘cheat’ to win the pen.

And writing for CaughtOffside, that was very much the harsh verdict from former Aston Villa man, Stan Collymore.

Stan Collymore says Bukayo Saka was cheating against Bayern Munich

Writing about Saka and the respect he has for him since coming back from his Euro 2020 penalty miss, Collymore couldn’t resist a dig either.

“When Bukayo Saka missed his Euro penalty at Wembley in the final against Italy, I briefly went over to him in the families section post match and just said a few words of old man’s wisdom. Something along the lines of “your time will come” and indeed, his time is now,” Collymore said.

“But with power and spotlight comes responsibility and the righteous outrage over what I saw as a player take the ball to the keeper and instead of going around him, then slotting the ball home and scoring a crucial Arsenal goal, he took the easy option, the option Harry Kane also takes for club and country, and that’s to “win” a penalty.

“Although you’re not actually winning anything, what you are doing by taking this easy option is robbing the fan in their seat a chance to see you do something they can’t on a pitch, you’re robbing the sport of a potential iconic Champions League moment, and most importantly, you’re robbing yourself of the opportunity to utilise the skills you work on all week, the skills that should have gone around the keeper and slotted that ball home. All because nobody in the game has the balls to call it out for what it is… Cheating.”

Saka tried to be clever but failed

You can see both sides of the argument with this one but in the end, the referees did get it right.

Saka did try to win a penalty and while Collymore calling him a cheat is a bit harsh, that is effectively what the Arsenal man was doing.

The one thing to say is that Saka is not alone in trying to con referees in the game. In fact, 90% of players do it and we see it weekly in the Premier League.

On another day, Saka might well have got the call. But on this occasion, it wasn’t to be and rightfully so.