Liverpool goalkeeper Alisson has admitted he was expecting Ederson to start for Manchester City in Saturday’s FA Cup semi-final.
Pep Guardiola instead sided with back-up keeper Zack Steffen as he rung the changes at Wembley. The City boss’ call backfired though, with Steffen at fault for what turned out to be a decisive moment in the game.
Having seen Ibrahima Konate head past him for Liverpool’s opener, the American then gifted Sadio Mane his first of the afternoon when the Senegal international pounced as Steffen spent too long bringing the ball under control. The incident drew comparisons with a similar situation during the two sides’ league meeting last weekend, when Ederson recovered just in time to prevent Diogo Jota from sliding in to score.
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Mane added a third just before half-time to seemingly wrap it up for Liverpool. Despite second half goals from Jack Grealish and Bernardo Silva, City were unable to claw their way back into the game.
Guardiola’s decision to start Steffen ahead of Ederson was further highlighted by the fact Jurgen Klopp sided with his number one — despite playing Caoimh Kelleher in earlier rounds and in the Carabao Cup. And, speaking after the game, Alisson admitted he was surprised to see his Brazil team-mate not starting in goal.
"I was expecting him to be playing, to be honest,” Alisson told beIN SPORTS.
"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 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."
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