Benteke: How I was so sure I'd score that penalty
There was no doubt in Christian Benteke's mind that he was going to successfully dispatch the penalty that handed Liverpool an unexpected victory over Crystal Palace on Sunday.
Three points looked unlikely for the Reds at Selhurst Park after Joe Ledley found the bottom corner to put the Eagles ahead and a second yellow card saw James Milner dismissed.
But a lifeline arrived in the form of a mistake by goalkeeper Alex McCarthy, who gifted Roberto Firmino an opportunity to calmly slide an equaliser home on 72 minutes.
Jürgen Klopp’s team showed no sign of settling for the draw and least of all Benteke, who seized upon the chance to be a hero having been awarded a stoppage-time spot-kick.
The Belgian told Liverpoolfc.com: “When the referee pointed to the penalty spot, straight away I said I would take the responsibility. No matter what, I had to take it and in my mind I was sure I was going to score.
“I’m very happy to help the team and I have to say everyone worked really hard, especially Divock [Origi] in attack. It was easier for me at the end because they [Palace defenders] were a bit tired.
“Hopefully I’m going to score a lot of goals between now and the end of the season, but as long as we win that is the main thing.”
The win at Palace followed up the 3-0 home triumph against Manchester City and maintained Liverpool’s chase to overhaul the teams within touching distance above them in the table.
Next up, though, is a Europa League meeting with Manchester United and Benteke hopes the momentum built in the past week can be carried into the much-anticipated tie.
“I’m very happy because we know to play against Palace here is never easy and we can be really proud of ourselves because we won with 10 men and we are really happy,” the No.9 added.
“It’s back-to-back wins. We can be happy and now we have to focus again. We have a really big game on Thursday against Manchester United and we want to do well in the Europa League as well, so we’re going to just keep going.”