England lost the Euro 2020 final to Italy after a penalty shootout on Sunday at Wembley.
Bukayo Saka’s decisive penalty was saved by Italy goalkeeper Gianluigi Donnarumma – one of two saves he would make in the shootout.
Harry Kane and Harry Maguire both scored their penalties before Marcus Rashford hit the post and Jadon Sancho saw his spot-kick saved.
Italy’s Andrea Belotti and Jorginho both had their penalties saved by Jordan Pickford, but Donnarumma’s heroics meant they lifted the European Championship for the second time.
Since the defeat, England fans – and those connected with football in general – have been debating whether the penalty lineup was the correct one.
Roy Keane said on ITV that he believed either Raheem Sterling or Jack Grealish should have taken the fifth penalty instead of 19-year-old Saka.
And some England fans seem to agree that the pair should have each taken a penalty, according to a poll published by the Daily Mirror.
Who do voters choose to take England penalties?
The fans voted for the players they wanted to see take a penalty, with Kane (68% of the vote) and Maguire (35%) keeping their places in the lineup.
Both men scored their penalties on the night. According to transfermarkt, Kane has taken 52 penalties throughout his career (excluding shootouts), scoring 44 of them.
Maguire, meanwhile, is not a penalty taker at club level but scored arguably the best spot kick of the tournament in the final when he hammered the ball into the top corner.
He also scored in the penalty shootout in England’s Nations League semi-final win over Switzerland in 2019.
It is all change in the fans’ vote when it comes to the third taker. Grealish won 23% of the vote to step up next, ahead of actual taker Rashford.
Grealish has never taken a professional penalty for club or country. He did score a spot kick during in the 2015/16 season whilst playing for Aston Villa U23s.
Next up is Luke Shaw, who voters chose to take the fourth penalty. Like Grealish, Shaw has never taken a penalty at professional level.
Finally, voters picked Sterling to take the fifth penalty instead of Saka.
The Manchester City winger has had a mixed record when it comes to spot-kicks. His most recent penalty – against Brighton in the Premier League – was missed, although he did score from the spot for England against Iceland in the Nations League last September.
Featured Image Credit: Getty