Why Ederson won’t play in the FA Cup final
Pep Guardiola has confirmed back-up goalkeeper Stefan Ortega will start the FA Cup final for Manchester City ahead of first choice Ederson.
German stopper Ortega has started all of City’s domestic cup games this season and was also given the nod in recent Premier League clashes with West Ham, Chelsea and Brighton.
Manager Guardiola has often given his reserve keepers runs in the FA Cup and Carabao Cup, as seen by the appearances racked up by Zack Steffen and Claudio Bravo in previous years.
In the build-up to the Manchester derby cup final, Guardiola said of Ortega: „He is going to play. I have always been like that in the FA Cup. At Barcelona and Bayern as well.
„The keeper who plays in the FA Cup is going to play.“
30-year-old Ortega joined City last summer after making over 200 appearances for Arminia Bielefeld across two spells, helping the German side into the Bundesliga from the country’s second division. He signed for 1860 Munich in 2014, where he played 64 times in three years.
Guardiola also gave updates on key trio Ruben Dias, Jack Grealish and Kevin De Bruyne. Dias and Grealish played no part in the games against Chelsea, Brighton and Brentford, while De Bruyne played only 69 minutes across those three matches.
„They trained well in the last two sessions,“ he added. „They are all of them more or less fine.“
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City wrapped up the Premier League title with games to spare which allowed Guardiola to rest key players, with a fringe but still strong XI deployed in the 1-0 defeat to Brentford.
There is also a Champions League final against Inter on the horizon where City will hope their treble bid is still alive, but Guardiola warned against complacency.
„We should think about what we have to do to win this one game,“ he said. „Nothing changes. We analyse the strengths of the opponent and see the weaknesses they have.
„It’s a football game, that’s the most important thing. We cannot control what’s on the outside. We do what we can to win the game.“
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