Mido slams ‘stupid’ decision to let Henderson take England penalty vs Romania

Ahmed Mido Hossam has described the decision to allow Jordan Henderson to take England’s penalty against Romania as “stupid”.

Marcus Rashford had given the Three Lions a 68th-minute lead from the penalty spot in the keenly contested international friendly.

Ten minutes later, Gareth Southgate’s men were handed a chance to double their advantage after referee Tiago Martins pointed to the spot again following Vlad Chiriches’ foul on Dominic Calvert-Lewin in the box.

Everton’s Calvert-Lewin initially picked up the ball only for the Liverpool captain to take the chance from him having replaced Kalvin Phillips in the second half.

That decision proved to be a poor one as Henderson’s kick was saved by Romanian goalkeeper Florin Nita.

Irritated by the miss, the former Olympique Marseille and Tottenham Hotspur striker went on social media to slam the choice of letting the 30-year-old – who has been out of action for several months – take the penalty.

“What a stupid decision to allow Henderson to take the penalty!! He’s been out for four months big argument about him if he should be involved!! Why? Let anyone else take it!” Mido wrote on Twitter.

While expressing his disappointment with the penalty miss, Henderson hopes to bounce back stronger in upcoming games.

“I’ve missed bigger penalties than that, don’t worry about that!” he told the media.

“But I’m disappointed, of course. I felt more sorry for Dom because he let me have it but unfortunately I couldn’t find the goal.

“I’m not too fussed to be honest I’m more bothered about being back out there and it’s nice to be back.”

Since making his senior England debut in 2010, Henderson has gone on to feature in 58 international games to date, albeit, he has failed to find the net.

He was making his return to the field after a long injury spell after a knock during the Reds’ Merseyside Derby defeat to Everton 106 days ago.

With their friendlies all done and dusted, England will start their final preparations for their Euro 2020 opener.

Zoned in Group D alongside Croatia, Scotland and the Czech Republic, Southgate’s team begin their campaign against the Checkered Ones on June 13 at Wembley Stadium.