Jack Grealish has sent a message to Ross Barkley after the Chelsea midfielder posted a photo of his well-struck penalty in the FA Cup final against Liverpool at the weekend. The Manchester City winger has inadvertently reminded everyone of just how talented Barkley is as he suggested that his former teammate at Aston Villa is a 'proper' player.
Barkley surprisingly replaced Ruben Loftus-Cheek towards the very end of extra-time on Saturday. Loftus-Cheek had been brought on in extra-time himself, but was later substituted by Thomas Tuchel as he doesn't have a good record from the penalty spot: "No [he was not injured] that was purely for penalties," said the German after the game. "Ruben doesn't have a good history, and Ross has. So it was down to the penalties."
With Loftus-Cheek off, Barkley simply had one task: score his penalty in the shootout. He did so emphatically as he thumped an effort past Alisson Becker. Of course, Chelsea went onto lose 6-5 following misses from Cesar Azpilicueta and Mason Mount, so the penalty didn't mean much in the grand scheme of things, but it may have been a decent confidence booster for Barkley heading into the last two games of the season.
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That much was evident when he posted an image of him striking his penalty on Instagram, to which Grealish replied: "Proper." The message was followed up with a clapping emoji as he praised his friend for keeping his nerve under such pressure.
Barkley hasn't had much game time under Tuchel, but with the German likely to rotate players for Thursday night's clash with Leicester, Barkley will be hoping to get some minutes in front of the Stamford Bridge crowd before the season is up. Although it's incredibly unlikely, perhaps his manager will take note of what Grealish has said, and afford the Englishman an arguably deserved opportunity.
