Pep Guardiola has described his Brazilian goalkeeper Ederson as "crazy" after his heart-stopping moment against Liverpool. The Manchester City goalkeeper almost gifted Diogo Jota a goal with a calamitous error after casually fielding a back-pass and then kicking the turf as he tried to play the ball out to Aymeric Laporte.
Jota sensed an opportunity and raced in, as the ball appeared to be trickling over the line, but Ederson calmly stroked it to safety with the striker lunging in. With the game ending 2-2, it could have been a telling moment in the title race — but Guardiola says his stopper was unmoved by the fuss.
"He is crazy," said the Blues boss. "This guy is crazy, sometimes I think he doesn’t feel or something! He concedes a goal, he is calm, makes a save, he is calm, so stable and as a keeper he is fantastic. Outside, he is completely different."
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It was only after seeing the video afterward that Guardiola realised how close it came to catastrophe. He added: "At that moment I thought it could be that close and after I see the image, one inch to the goal and doesn’t matter but it is what it is and so good he is so stable doesn’t feel the pressure. The most important thing in football you have to forget the previous action and he forget immediately, he is ready for the next one."
City will need that calmness tomorrow night, when they head to the fierce atmosphere of Atletico Madrid's Wanda Metropolitano stadium defending a 1-0 lead from the first leg of their Champions League quarter-final.
And Guardiola said he expects his players to keep their heads, despite Atletico's clear attempts at provocation in the first leg.
"It will be a different game for sure, it won’t be anything like the game last week," he said. "They are playing at home with their fans behind them. When they played knockout games at the Calderon (Atletico's old stadium) and now the Wanda they have had some very exciting moments.
"They are going to be more intense in the top half of the field and they were the other night and we will have to adapt. If we are losing we will try everything to get it back but if we are on top we will defend deeper and keep the ball."
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