BLACKBURN Rovers top-scorer Rudy Gestede insists he is not haunted by his Wembley spot-kick heartache – and that he would be willing to take another pressure penalty in tomorrow’s big FA Cup quarter-final at Liverpool.
When Gestede scored from the spot in Rovers’ stunning fifth-round success at home to Stoke City last month it was the first time he had taken a penalty in a competitive match since he missed for Cardiff City in their shootout defeat to Liverpool in the 2012 Carling Cup final.
And, when asked whether he would take another at Anfield if the scores were level in the last minute, the 15-goal striker said: “Yes of course I would take it!
“That game’s gone, it’s finished, it’s behind me. I was younger then and I was a bit tired because it was the end of the game after extra-time.
“It was a great final and penalties are a lottery. We lost and on another day it might have been different.
“I took one against Stoke because Jordan Rhodes was on the bench and I scored so everything has gone now. It’s just a memory.”
Gestede is hoping tomorrow’s eagerly anticipated clash will leave better recollections.
He said: “We are not going there to be their sparring partner, we are going there to get a result.
“Although they are a big team, we are going to play to our strengths and do our best.
“Liverpool are a good team but everyone can get beat.”
Rovers have already proved more than a match for Premier League opposition this season after knocking out Stoke in the last 16 and Swansea in the last 32 to set-up tomorrow’s encounter.
But Gestede said: “Liverpool are a better team than Stoke and Swansea so we have to play better football and work harder.”
Gestede was on target against Swansea as well as against Stoke and he believes tomorrow’s game gives him another chance to prove he can cut it on the big stage.
Crystal Palace had a £3.5m bid for the towering targetman in the January transfer window rejected.
And Gestede, who has scored 27 goals in 54 appearances for Rovers since making a £200,000 move from Cardiff, said: “If I can do well against Liverpool I can show Premier League clubs that the speculation was there because I’m a good player and not just because I’m tall and score a few goals with my head.
“Any game you do your best to show you’re a good player and to do your best for the team.
“Now it’s going to be a very good test. If every week you want to play against Premier League teams, you have to play well against Liverpool.”
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