Peter Schmeichel was not happy with Pep Guardiola’s decision to leave Ederson out of his FA Cup final starting XI (Picture: BBC)
Peter Schmeichel has criticised Pep Guardiola’s decision to leave his No.1 goalkeeper Ederson out of his FA Cup final starting XI.
The Brazil international has enjoyed another magnificent season, playing a key role in Manchester City’s successful defence of the Premier League title.
Summer signing Stefan Ortega, in fairness, hasn’t put a foot wrong as Ederson’s deputy in the domestic cup competitions and hasn’t conceded a goal en route to Wembley.
Schmeichel, who represented both Manchester giants over the course of his distinguished career, fears, however, that a showpiece final is no occasion to be taking a gamble.
He told the BBC: ‘I wouldn’t have been happy. You play football you go through so many difficult periods and you work hard and you do that for these things.
Stefan Ortega was chosen to start in goal for Man City in the FA Cup final (Picture: Getty)
‘If you have an opportunity to play in an FA Cup final you want to have that. If you’re No.1 why are you getting penalised for being a goalkeeper.
‘Pep is staying loyal and I understand you’ve got to play and if anything happens to your No.1 goalkeeper you need to play him now and again but not in a final.’
Despite the treble being on the line, Guardiola was in relaxed mood ahead of kick-off and insisted his team selection was in no way influenced by next weekend’s Champions League final against Inter in Istanbul.
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‘We have spoken about what we have to do to try and win the game,’ he said. ‘It’s two teams from the same city and that makes it very nice for the first time in the history of the FA Cup.
‘I’m not thinking about next Saturday, it’s just about today and then we see what happens.
‘It’s the FA Cup final, it’s so attractive. The players could be thinking about the Champions League if we were in the Premier League and had already won the title but this is the FA Cup final.’
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‘I wouldn’t have been happy!’