Captain Thierry Henry has apologised to Arsenal's supporters for the extraordinary penalty miss during the 1-0 home win over Manchester City yesterday.
"I just want to apologise to all the Arsenal fans because it wasn't the right thing to do," Henry said. "Next time I will take all the penalties."
Robert Pires, who had already converted one spot kick, fluffed his attempt to touch a second into the path of fellow Frenchman Henry, prompting chaotic scenes that ended with referee Mike Riley awarding City a free kick.
In the aftermath, it was unclear whether Riley believed Pires had touched the ball twice or that the ball had not travelled through its circumference as required. Henry admitted that the ploy, used by Dutch midfielder Johan Cruyff when he passed a penalty to Jesper Olsen for his team mate to score for Ajax Amsterdam in the 1982-83 season, was his idea.
Asked if it was his idea, Henry said: "Yes . . . but it wasn't my idea to make his (Pires's) leg go numb. What happened? I don't know.
"Unfortunately for Robert it is going to be in all the kind of papers you can have about strange things that can happen on the pitch. I don't know why his leg went numb.
"When Cruyff did it at Ajax everyone went ballistic. Sometimes you have to remember it was not a lack of respect (to the opposition).
"We should not have done it but it is a game and people keep forgetting it's entertainment also. We can laugh about it now because we took all three points but I think we wouldn't have been laughing if we didn't win." PA