Manchester City came up way short against Liverpool on Sunday in the Premier League, losing 2-0 at Anfield.
Pep Guardiola’s side have now gone seven games without a win across all competitions, and have lost their last four in the league.
There’s now a mountain to climb for City to win the title. Gary Neville has said it’d be ‘beyond ridiculous’ if Man City won the Premier League from here, believing the club are just too far behind Liverpool now.
The gap is 11 points to the leaders, and the Reds look very good under new manager Arne Slot.
Manchester City were comfortably beaten on Sunday. After going 1-0 down, they were in the game for a long time but the penalty pretty much sealed the result.
Stefan Ortega spoke after the game, and admitted his frustration about the decision.
Stefan Ortega says he played well against Liverpool but admits frustration over penalty
Some fans were buzzing when reports surfaced that Ortega would start against Liverpool, with Ederson dropping to the bench.
Some felt Ederson needed dropping after his poor display against Feyenoord, and Guardiola obliged, handing Ortega his fifth appearance of the season.
Ortega was a busy man against the Reds.
He made five saves in the game, with three of those coming from Liverpool shots in the box (via Sofascore).
But he did also give away a penalty for a foul on Luis Diaz, which Salah then scored. The German was left frustrated with that decision, after he felt he played well in the game.
He told Stadium Astro: “Of course, I’m happy when I can play for this club, especially here a Anfield in a big game.
“When they told me yesterday that I was going to play, I was really excited and I think I’ve done really well today. First, with the penalty situation, it was quite difficult because for me it was a bit of a mix of offside. It’s another issue, but we lost.
“It’s quite tough for keepers when you have to rush out and control space and then with the passive offside, offside or not. But it’s another issue the referees have to have a look on this I think to help us keepers a bit more.”
Ortega played well but can’t complain about Liverpool penalty
One can understand why Ortega had some frustrations about the penalty, given that it looked like the offside Salah had made a run towards the ball after the touch by Diaz.
But the German only had eyes for the ball and didn’t give the impression he was distracted, and he just didn’t get there unfortunately.
| Stefan Ortega vs Liverpool |
| Minutes played – 90 |
| Saves made – 5 |
| Saves from inside the box – 3 |
| Passes/completed – 39/33 (85%) |
He may have conceded the penalty, but three defenders in front of him were really poor on the goal.
Akanji’s header to Dias was poor, and then the Portuguese tried to turn out of trouble. Walker also tried to dribble out rather than boot the ball away to safety, so Ortega was then exposed.
Ortega actually did play fairly well on Sunday. He kept City in the game before the penalty, and it’ll be interesting to see if Guardiola keeps faith with the German for the next game with Nottingham Forest on Wednesday.
