Stefan Ortega proved himself as a top goalkeeper for Manchester City last season.
The German featured in 20 games across all competitions and kept eight clean sheets along the way.
Saving 20 of the 27 shots on target he faced across his nine Premier League appearances, one of those saves ended up being a crucial aspect of City’s title charge towards the end of the season as he denied Son Heung-min in a one-on-one situation during the Blues’ 2-0 win over Tottenham Hotspur.
Unfortunately, however, Ortega’s second season at the Etihad Stadium ended on a disappointing note as he was involved in a mistake with Josko Gvardiol that led to Manchester United scoring the first of their two goals in the previous FA Cup final which City lost 2-1 in the final game of the 2023/24 campaign.
Ahead of Saturday’s Community Shield match against the Red Devils at Wembley Stadium, the City goalkeeper has opened up about the FA Cup final mistake.
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Stefan Ortega sheds light on FA Cup final mistake
In a recent interview with the Manchester Evening News ahead of the Community Shield, Ortega had this to say about his FA Cup final mistake.
He said: “First of all, it’s hard if an opponent just plays long balls, long balls, long balls. And we always have a high line. If you have to defend 20 balls and it happens once, one ball is dangerous.
“In this case, I shouted to Josko, maybe not too loud, so he didn’t hear me. It just happens in football, no more than that.”
Ortega now has the chance to put things right against United
Last month, Gvardiol shared his thoughts on the mistake by saying that he didn’t see where the goalkeeper was when he headed the ball towards his goal before then admitting that better communication would have prevented the error.
Having appeared in all six of City’s FA Cup games last season, Ortega kept two clean sheets, conceded four goals and saved 16 of the 20 shots on targets that came his way.
Now that he has acknowledged his role in how this mistake happened, it will undoubtedly be something that he will be aware of from now on.
Moving forward, with City taking United on again at Wembley this weekend, this could give Ortega the opportunity to make up for his mistake and help his side get their hands on a piece of silverware before the season kicks off.
