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BT Sport pundit Michael Owen has expressed his admiration for Ian Poveda, after the winger stayed on his feet under a challenge from Chelsea defender Ben Chilwell yesterday.
In the 80th minute the 20-year-old had worked his way into the Blues box in search of a Whites equaliser and was caught by Chilwell before he fired a shot at Edouard Mendy.
Had Poveda gone down, the referee would have had a decision to make. Had he not given anything, VAR might have intervened.
But the former Manchester City youngster opted to keep his balance and try to score, an action that has drawn big praise from Owen, who also paid the youngster a big compliment regarding his footwork.
He told , : “[He is a] very honest player. The manager in the dressing room would be thinking ‘I have just watched Mo Salah, I have watched people like Grealish, Danny Welbeck last week. I have watched all these players, Sterling today, they have got half the touch you [Poveda] have got’.
“I admire the lad for staying on his feet and I think he should stay on his feet. And I don’t think you should be given a penalty for that.”
Poveda’s honesty resulted in nothing given, and Chelsea then wrapped the game up in injury time with Christian Pulisic
TBR’s View – Good to see
Poveda’s action was something that is sadly a rarity these days.
He deserves a lot of credit for resisting going down, especially given the 2-1 scoreline.
Although Marcelo Bielsa will be disappointed with the end result, the man has integrity and will probably hope for more of that from his players.