Shay Given has claimed that Ederson’s efforts for Manchester City in the Champions League final will have made him a club hero.
After seeing Stefan Ortega play in the FA Cup final, the Brazilian was put back in the team to take on Inter Milan in last weekend’s final.
Having been able to keep a clean sheet against the Italian side, the shot-stopper certainly played a massive part in seeing Pep Guardiola’s side win the title and secure the treble.
In fact, one former City player, who knows a thing or two about what it takes to play in goal, had a lot to say about the Brazil international.
Given highlights Ederson’s performance against Inter
Speaking on a recent edition of BBC Radio 5 Live’s Football Daily podcast, Given said this about Ederson and what he did in the final.
He said: “There was three big saves I would say about Ederson.
“The one where [Manuel] Akanji had a mix up I think they left it to each other and [Lautaro] Martinez, he got a great block in a one-v-one situation.
“Martinez maybe should have squared it to [Romelu] Lukaku but took the shot on and then, of course, you mentioned the save he made after that from the header from Lukaku, still had to get his feet across the goal really quick, you have to be in the right position to make that save and yeah people will say Lukaku should have scored, he shouldn’t have been given the opportunity but you’ve got to credit Ederson.
“And, of course, the punch at the end as well, it was a flicked-on header, he made it look easy, got it away from danger.
“The other thing that impressed me was in the 94th minute when he came for a cross, 17 yards out when they had all the big guys out and just relieved all the pressure in the situation.
“If you think what pressure is on his shoulders then he was absolutely brilliant, and again, will go down in folklore for the Man City fans because they were massive saves in the game.”
Across the game in Istanbul, the 29-year-old made five saves in total, all of which came from shots inside his box.
His overall performance ultimately earned Ederson a match rating of 8.1/10 from SofaScore, making him the highest-rated player across both sides.
This shows just how pivotal he was for City in terms of winning the Champions League, in a similar way to Rodri who scored the winning goal.
In fact, Ederson ended the European campaign with the highest save percentage (90.3%) out of any goalkeeper that made at least 10 saves throughout the tournament, further highlighting how important he was for City.
