Manchester City are into the semi-finals of the FA Cup after a 2-0 win over Newcastle United – and there was one player who left Ilkay Gundogan impressed.
Bernardo Silva bagged a brace for City at the Etihad, as Pep Guardiola‘s side continued their fantastic form.
Despite not being able to call on the injured Kevin De Bruyne, it was a comfortable evening at the Etihad for City, with Phil Foden again shining in a central role.
Newcastle had a few promising moments in the game, but Stefan Ortega was not to be breached.
The German is in for the injured Ederson at the moment and, after shining against Liverpool, he was in fine fettle against Newcastle on Saturday night – leaving former City maestro Ilkay Gundogan impressed…
Stefan Ortega leaves Ilkay Gundogan impressed after display for Man City against Newcastle
Ortega now has the chance to really stake his claim for City with Ederson expected to be out for a few weeks.
The international break possibly comes at the wrong time for him, because obviously he will not have any chance to play next weekend.
But it’s possible he’ll be between the sticks against Arsenal, and him impressing against the Gunners could give Guardiola something to think about.
Ortega was just really solid against Newcastle. He made one particularly great save from Alex Isak in the first-half, and his distribution was great. The long, flat ball into Erling Haaland is one he really likes and executes well.
After the game yesterday, Ortega took to Instagram to check in with fans.
He uploaded a few pictures and wrote the caption ‘Good finish before the international break. Wembley soon!’
Many fans congratulated the German, and a few players also commented on the post. And there was one message from former City skipper Ilkay Gundogan, who was clearly impressed with his old teammate’s performance against Newcastle, as he wrote’ What a goalkeeper’. He also included the raised hands and fire emojis.
Gundogan is spot on
You’ll be hard-pressed to find a City fan who does not agree with this message from Gundogan to Ortega.
The £55,000-a-week man is genuinely a top goalkeeper and realistically, he has shown since he came to City that he could be starting for a lot of other clubs.
Ortega just does everything to a really good standard, and the drop-off from Ederson to him is extremely minimal.
It is thought that City are trying to tie Ortega down to a new contract at the Etihad and that would be amazing if it comes to fruition. But the German is surely going to hang fire and see what happens.
He’ll only have a year left on his contract this summer, and he could not be blamed for wanting to move somewhere he could be a number one.
