Jamie Redknapp absolutely lavished praise on one Manchester City star on Tuesday night after the huge 2-0 win over Tottenham Hotspur.
Manchester City recorded a massive victory to go top of the Premier League by two points heading into the final day of fixtures on Sunday.
Erling Haaland scored twice for the visitors, who were not at their best down in north London.
City were seemingly affected by nerves in the first-half, with a strange atmosphere accompanying the game.
But in the second-half Pep Guardiola got a response from his players, and two of his big guns combined to break the deadlock. Kevin De Bruyne fed Haaland for an easy tap-in, before the Norwegian scored an emphatic injury-time penalty.
Just before Haaland’s winner though, City survived a huge scare when Heung-min Son was denied by Stefan Ortega – and pundit Jamie Redknapp lauded the German after the game…
Jamie Redknapp says Man City star Stefan Ortega is ‘brilliant every single time’ he plays
Ortega remains Manchester City’s number two goalkeeper, but he has been called upon quite a few times now this season.
Pep had to turn to him again on Tuesday night, after Cristian Romero clattered into Ederson, leaving him down on the ground for several minutes.
The Brazilian played on for a few minutes, but was then withdrawn as a precaution.
Ortega came on just after the hour mark, and was faultless.
He first made a great save from Dejan Kulusevski from a tight angle, and then came his major moment in the game. Manuel Akanji showed too much of the ball to Brennan Johnson, and Heung-min Son then picked up the ball and was through.
But Ortega made himself big, and denied the South Korean. After the game, Kyle Walker compared his teammate to Bayern Munich legend Manuel Neuer.
Plaudits have been plentiful for Ortega since the game, and Jamie Redknapp was particularly passionate with his praise for the 31-year-old.
He said on Sky: “When you’re a goalkeeper… the patience you have to have. You have to sit and try and help somebody that is number one. You know you’re not going to be starting because Ederson is one of the best in the world. You have to be ready, you never know when you’re going to come on.
“He has, to a certain extent, made sure his team is going to win the title. That was an unbelievable cameo. The bravery he showed, he never made a mistake. He was incredible. You can see the respect from his teammates.
“It is the hardest job in football to be a number two goalkeeper. It’s the job nobody wants, it’s a nightmare because you’re never really going to play. It’s thankless, and he’s been brilliant every single time. Unbelievable achievement and he was absolutely magnificent today.”
Ortega deserves to be a number one and could therefore leave
It is so brilliant to hear all the praise for Ortega after the 2-0 win over Tottenham.
Redknapp is right, it is a thankless task being a number two goalkeeper as you never quite know when your chance is going to come, and it is very hard to build any kind of rhythm.
Ortega has been an absolutely sensational signing for City.
He’s only made 32 appearances for the club since arriving on a free after being relegated with Arminia Bielefeld. But you can probably count the number of bad games he’s had on one hand.
The £55,000-a-week ace is so good every time he comes into the team, whether that’s from the start or off the bench, in the Premier League, Champions League or domestic cups – it doesn’t matter, he performs.
The issue for City is that he is so good, he would be a regular first-choice goalkeeper at so many other clubs and this is something that is worrying fans heading into the summer. It would be no surprise if Ortega wanted to depart in order to get regular minutes – he surely won’t be short of offers.
