Many were surprised to see 18-year-old Xavi Simons take the seventh penalty in PSG’s shootout defeat to Nice this week but, as reported by L’Équipe, he wasn’t supposed too. Simons’ miss saw PSG exit the competition.

PSG coach Mauricio Pochettino had previous stated the decision was also not his, saying: “We took the decision on the first five takers. We thought we’d win with those five takers. Then the decision was taken on player feeling. Xavi was not my decision.”

Indeed young Simons was forced into taking what became the decisive penalty because several more experienced teammates didn’t want to take responsibility. Presnel Kimpembe, Thilo Kehrer, Danilo Perreira and Gianluigi Donnarumma were those yet to take a spot kick at the time.

Simons, in just his seventh PSG senior game, is, however, a regular taker at youth level and his coach later conceded that he “had total confidence in him like any other player. If he’s in the team, he has the same right as the others to take one.”