With Arsenal sitting at the top of the league table, all eyes were on Manchester City’s clash against Tottenham especially as the Cityzens had two games compared to Arsenal’s one left. It meant that the Premier League title race could have been decided before the final day which led to more than a few Arsenal fans supporting Tottenham. However, the result didn’t go their way as City walked away with a convincing win.
That wasn’t always the case as Spurs battled it out across both halves before Erling Haaland opened the scoring with a simple tap in in the second half. That saw the intensity rise before Ederson had to be replaced after a collision with Cristian Romero. While the Brazilian wasn’t happy at being substituted, his replacement Stefan Ortega more than did his job.
Guardiola believes that Ortega is an incredible goalkeeper
The City second goalkeeper walked onto the field and played a key role in stopping Tottenham, making not one but several goal bound shots. That included a superb save to stop Heung-Min Son after the South Korean rushed one-v-one against Ortega. The save stunned City fans and neutrals alike with many shocked at just how composed Ortega was in the situation.
It effectively marked the end of the game with Haaland scoring a penalty less than ten minutes later to seal the game in favour of Manchester City. After the game, Pep Guardiola was overjoyed by his side’s performance especially Ortega and the Spaniard didn’t hesitate saying so. He even admitted that without the goalkeeper’s performance, Arsenal would have won the league title.
“How is a team a team? Because of Ortega’s save. Otherwise, Arsenal are champions. That is the reality, the margins are so, so tight. Do you know how many times Son punished us in the last seven, eight years? Can I tell you how many goals he scored against us with Harry Kane? Oh my God, and I said ‘not again,’ but Stefan makes an incredible save. It was amazing but he has this talent,” Guardiola said, reported Goal.
“In the one-against-one, he is one of the best keepers I have ever seen in my life. Stand up, don’t go down and he is so, so, good. Playing FA Cup, Carabao Cup, and even this season Ederson had four times setbacks for injuries and always he was so reliable. He is an incredible keeper so the club and our trainer made an incredible decision to bring him here.”
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