James Maddison has highlighted one Manchester City player that really impressed him last night.
In their penultimate Premier League game of the season, the Citizens beat Tottenham Hotspur 2-0 to put themselves two points clear at the top of the table.
After opening the scoring in the 51st minute, Erling Haaland bagged his second goal of the game in injury time with a late penalty that gave City their first-ever league win at the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium.
Despite seeing Haaland take his tally of league goals for the season to 27, Maddison chose to heap praise on another City player who had a big impact in last night’s big game.
Maddison wowed by Stefan Ortega after Spurs victory
Speaking to the North London club’s media after the game, Maddison had this to say on the matter.
He said: “We still had some big moments even when we were down. Sonny’s one is probably the highlight of our chances but [it was] a fantastic save to be fair to the ‘keeper, who has come on as a sub and produced a couple of good saves actually.
“There was one with Deki down there which it looked like he got on top off, which could have squeezed in. So credit to the goalkeeper because it’s not easy to come on and do that when you’re cold.”
Ortega proved his worth against Spurs
The German replaced Ederson in the second half of last night’s game after the Brazilian was forced off the pitch with a head injury.
During his time on the pitch, Ortega made three saves in total, the most notable of which, as Maddison mentioned, was one that denied Son Heung-min a goal after the South Korean found himself in a one-v-one situation with the City goalkeeper.
In fact, Jamie Carragher said after the game that this particular save will lead City to the Premier League title.
With that in mind, it’s understandable why Maddison was so impressed by what he saw from Ortega, even though he stopped the midfielder’s side from potentially getting a result.