Manchester City were narrowly beaten by Real Madrid in the Championship League knockout stages on Tuesday night. But it certainly feels like a bit of a humbling for Pep Guardiola’s side.
Manchester City’s 2024/25 season goes from bad to worse with defeat at home to Real Madrid in the Champions League. Madrid came from behind to win at the Etihad and take a lead to the reverse fixture at the Bernabeu next week.
Erling Haaland opened the scoring. Kylian Mbappe then levelled things on the hour mark before City again took the lead, with Haaland scoring from the spot with 10 minutes to play. But late goals from Brahim Diaz and Jude Bellingham sealed a late comeback win for Carlos Ancelotti’s side.
Several players as well as manager Pep Guardiola have come under scrutiny following the defeat against Real Madrid. But a lot of fans on social media are talking about goalkeeper Ederson, following what was a tricky performance in between the sticks.
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Nigel Reo-Coker shares damning verdict on Ederson after Real Madrid beat Man City
Speaking on CBS after the game, former Premier League midfielder and now pundit Nigel Reo-Coker gave his assessment of the game and of Ederson in goal, with the Brazilian seemingly at fault for more than one goal on the night.
Some say Ederson could’ve been better positions for Mbappe’s goal, before then palming the ball straight into the path of Diaz for the second goal. Reo-Coker said of the 31-year-old City shot-stopper: “Ederson’s got to take the blame on that. He’s got to take the responsibility… You’re one of the senior players, it’s different if it’s one of the young players making a mistake.”
Reo-Coker later added: “You can see that Manchester City cannot see out games. It’s been individual errors have played a part in Manchester City’s entirety of the season.”
If City can beat Real Madrid across two legs, they’ll receive a bonus of more than £10million.
Pep Guardiola says Ederson was Man City’s ‘best player’ vs Real Madrid
Whilst Reo-Coker and many Manchester City fans think Ederson had a bit of a stinker against Real Madrid, Guardiola actually thinks the £35million man had a good game. So good in fact that he was City’s ‘best player’ on the night.
Guardiola told the club after full-time: “It’s the fourth time we played in a row against Madrid here and in the three previous we were much, much better than them but today was tight and in certain times they had chances and Ederson was our best player.”
So far this season, Ederson has kept just three clean sheets in 15 Premier League games for City, conceding 20 in the process. Back up goalkeeper Stefan Ortega has two clean sheets in nine Premier League games in 2024/25, with 15 conceded.
Up next for Man City is a home game against Newcastle United on Saturday with kick off at 3pm. Then it’s the trip to Madrid on Wednesday.
