Alisson has admitted he 'was expecting' Ederson to start for Manchester City in today's FA Cup semi final versus Liverpool.
Pep Guardiola's weakened team selection shocked a number of people ahead of kick-off, with Zack Steffen being preferred to City's ever-dependable Brazilian for this crucial cup tie at Wembley. Steffen had started all but one of the Sky Blues' fixtures in this competition this term, with Ederson given the nod for a fifth round tie away to Peterborough United.
The decision for City's second-choice shot-stopper to be given the nod for a fixture of this magnitude ultimately backfired, with the American gifting Liverpool their second goal in the game after being caught out by Sadio Mane. A similar scenario played out in the 2-2 draw been the sides last weekend at the Etihad, though Ederson recovered well to prevent Diogo Jota sliding in to score.
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Liverpool opted to start with Alisson between the sticks for this semi-final, despite having provided opportunities for Caoimhin Kelleher in third and fourth round ties against Shrewsbury Town and Cardiff City. Providing his reaction to his international compatriot being benched by the Citizens, the former Roma keeper told beIN SPORTS: "I was expecting him to be playing, to be honest.
"Here in England, managers have a choice to rotate the goalkeepers sometimes. This season was different from our side: I played a few games before in the FA Cup and Caoimh [Kelleher] had the opportunity to play the League Cup. For me, particularly, it is important to play all the games. Their managers trusts their goalkeeper so that's all good.
"We take the win. It was everything we wanted. Our target was improving from the last game we played against them [Man City] and we did that. At the end of the match, the score was quite tight but you are playing against a great side."
On the possibility of winning the quadruple, Alisson added: "We do not have much time to think about all the things. Our head is always focused on the next game and next challenge we have. Of course we dream about that, but we dream awake with our feet on the ground and being humble.
"We need to keep on going with what we are doing in the Premier League, Champions League and now we have reached one big target we had from the beginning of the season: to reach the FA Cup final."
