Manchester City today beat Chelsea 1-0 at the Etihad Stadium, having already been confirmed as Premier League champions last night – and Gary Neville was left impressed by Stefan Ortega.
Pep Guardiola rang the changes, after Arsenal’s loss to Nottingham Forest handed City the title for 2022/23.
Fringe players such as Kalvin Phillips, Sergio Gomes and Cole Palmer all started the game.
And it was a very comfortable performance from the hosts, despite many big-hitters being on the bench.
City dominated the ball as usual and created plenty of chances.
Chelsea did have opportunities though, but there was no breakthrough with Ortega in good form.
The German was starting only his second Premier League game, having made his debut in the competition against West Ham United earlier this month.
Ortega was equal to everything, making some solid saves and commanding his area well.
And on the whole, his distribution was pretty good. It wasn’t quite Ederson level, but it was good enough.
There was a moment in the second-half with around 20 minutes to go when Ortega confidently claimed a cross for City.
And it prompted Neville, on commentary for Sky Sports, to praise the £55,000-a-week star.
He said: “He has a nice style about him, Ortega. He makes things look really simply. His anticipation of where the shot is going to go is good. He gets there early.”
Stefan Ortega is a brilliant back-up for Ederson at Manchester City
This was a very assured and confident performance from Ortega against Chelsea.
The star has only made 11 appearances this season.
But generally when he takes to the field, he has looked a really solid stopper.
He may not have the passing range of Ederson, and he does take quite a bit longer on the ball on the Brazilian.
But Ortega is definitely a really great back-up to the South American, and is just generally good at all aspects of goalkeeping, which is what you want from your number two.
