Manchester City manager Josep Guardiola noted the role of his reserve goalkeeper Stefan Ortega in the victory over Tottenham.
Last night, City took a big step towards a fourth consecutive Premier League title with a 0-2 victory in North London.
In the 69th minute of this match, when the score was 0:1, Guardiola was forced to replace the injured Ederson, and in the end, shortly before the second goal of the “citizens”, Ortega, who appeared from the bench, made an incredible save after Son Hyun-min’s one-on-one exit.
Guardiola feels it was a title save because Arsenal would have taken the initiative in the title race if City had missed out on the victory.
“We won thanks to Ortega’s save. Otherwise Arsenal would have become the champion. This is the reality — small details decide everything.”
“Do you know how many times Sleep has punished us in the last seven to eight years? Can I tell you how many goals he scored for us with Harry Kane?”
“I thought to myself: “God, not again.” But Stefan made an incredible save. It was amazing, but he has talent.”
“In one-on-one play, he is one of the best goalkeepers I have ever seen in my life. He’s so good.”
“He has played in the FA Cup, the League Cup and even the Premier League this season because Ederson has been injured four times and he has always been so reliable.”
“He’s an incredible goalkeeper, so the club and our coach made an incredible decision by inviting him here.”
“Tottenham were incredibly aggressive the whole match, so I suffered from the first minute. People assumed that they would not try to win because they did not want to see Arsenal win the championship, but it turned out to be exactly the opposite,” Guardiola was quoted as saying by The Independent.