Ally McCoist believes there is now not much of a gap between two players competing for one position in the Manchester City team.
City drew 3-3 with Real Madrid on Tuesday night in the first leg of the Champions League quarter-final at the Bernabeu, in what was a pulsating match.
Bernardo Silva gave City a very early lead, but it was cancelled out moments later as Eduardo Camavinga and Rodrygo scored for the hosts. In the second-half, City turned things around, with Phil Foden again coming in clutch by scoring a magnificent goal, which impressed Gary Lineker.
Josko Gvardiol then put City 3-2 up with a stunning strike of his own, but Fede Valverde got one back for Real late on, to set up a fascinating second leg.
Pep Guardiola decided to go with Stefan Ortega in goal last night, seemingly deemin Ederson not quite ready to return.
The German had a decent game, and could do nothing about any of the goals and today, pundit Ally McCoist has given his verdict on the goalkeeper situation at City…
Ally McCoist insists the gap between Ederson and Stefan Ortega at Manchester City is much smaller than he realised
Ortega was starting his fifth game in a row last night, since replacing the injured Ederson away at Liverpool before the international break.
The 31-year-old has impressed since coming in for the Brazilian, with City winning three of those games and drawing two.
Ortega was seriously unlucky last night against Real Madrid. The first two goals both took deflections rendering him helpless, and there was nothing he could have done to stop Valverde’s brilliant volley late on.
He’s definitely made a case to keep his position. But Guardiola adores Ederson and views him as key to the way City build from the back.
In the eyes of McCoist, there is now very little between the pair. He said this morning: “An interesting one, the goalkeeping situation. I might have got it wrong because I just think Ederson starts every big game for City but clearly maybe the gap between him and Ortega isn’t as big as I thought it might be.”
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For a lot of clubs, there is a big drop-off from the number one goalkeeper to the number two.
For City, there is really is hardly any drop-off whatsoever from Ederson to Ortega.
As we all know, Ederson is the distribution king. But Ortega’s passing is not too far behind that of the Brazilian. He is just arguably a little slower on the ball than his teammate.
Being a number two goalkeeper can be a really difficult gig, but Ortega does a fantastic job when he is called upon. There has been some talk about him leaving this summer, with talks over a new contract having apparently stalled.
Hopefully the club can reach an agreement with him because it would be a great shame to see him leave.