A designated penalty shooter number 1 by Luis Enrique last summer, Vitinha let Lee Kang-in register PSG's 4th goal against Atlético on penalty on Sunday, before explaining why after the match. And at PSG, the official penalty shooter now seems to be linked to the context above all.
A strike from Senny Mayulu, which was coupled by Robin the Norman, offered PSG on Sunday, his twelfth penalty of the season, not necessarily the most obvious since it was the Var who called Mr. Kovacs to whistle it. And after going to the penalty spot to transform it, Vitinha gave the ball to his friend Lee Kang-in, who had not marked with PSG since November and a double in Angers (4-0).
The South Korean international, who had already found the net in the past week with South Korea, was not asked and took the counter-footage Jan Oblak to score the fourth goal of PSG against the Colchoneros, his very first penalty of the season.
“If there is a good score, we give the penalty to a player who needs goals”
Elected man of the match, Vitinha confided in Dazn France after the meeting and was questioned about his choice to let the penalty transform in his place: “We have already talked about that before, me, the coach, the other shooters. I normally draw. If there is Ousmane, it's Ousmane. We make a choice. Today, it was me and we have this type of agreement that I am not attacker, so I don't need goals like an attacker. So normally if there are 3 or 4-0, a good score, we give a player who is more attacker, who needs goals. This was the case of Lee Kang-in and that's it ”said the Portuguese.
As had filtered at the start of the season, Vitinha therefore confirms that the hierarchy of penalty shooters is not frozen and decided before each match after consultation with Luis Enrique. The Portuguese also suggests that if it is aligned on the field at the same time as Ooumane Dembélé, it is French who is responsible for shooting, which is a small evolution since this season, when the two were on the field at the same time, it is always the Portuguese who pulled the penalties (against Lille, Lyon and Brest in the go -round barrage).
Vitinha also confirms that the idea, depending on the score, is to be altruistic by leaving the penalty to an attacker who lacks confidence. This was the case with Lee on Sunday against Atlético, but also last August in Le Havre with Randal Kolo Muani, who had scored at the end of the match the goal of 4-1 on penalty while Vitinha and Dembélé were still on the field.
And the top penalty governing goalscorer is …
It is also interesting to note that the top scorer of PSG on penalty this season is called … Gonçalo Ramoswho scored 4 out of 5 attempts. The Portuguese never had to share with Dembélé since the Frenchman had always left the field when he had struck, especially during his failure against Auxerre on May 17. But during Espaly/PSG (2-4) or PSG/Auxerre (3-1), Vitinha was there and had voluntarily left the penalty to his compatriot to allow him to find confidence. Seeing him do the same with Lee is therefore not at all exceptional.
Vitinha transformed 3 of the 4 penalties he tried him this season (his failure was against Arsenal in a return semi-finals) while Dembélé pulled a single penalty this season and transformed it. It was January 12 against ASSE and Vitinha was not on the field at that time the match.
