Ederson, the goalie for Manchester City, will be held largely responsible for his team’s devastating loss to Real Madrid in the closing minutes.
One of the first features of the recently restructured European competition was the Champions League play-off match between Man City and Real Madrid. With a goal shortly before the 20th minute, Erling Haaland finally broke his duck against the Spanish powerhouses, giving the Sky Blues the crucial early lead.
But when it comes to Real Madrid, a one-goal lead is almost never sufficient. With ten minutes of regular time left, City would regain the lead through Haaland after Kylian Mbappe levelled on the hour mark. By full time, the Etihad would be startled into quiet, regardless of how well timed the Norwegian’s goal was.
Shortly after onto the field, Brahim Diaz scored a second equaliser, and in the final seconds of the match, hero Jude Bellingham scored the game-winning goal.
Manchester City has had a difficult season after losing badly in the Premier League and being eliminated from the Carabao Cup. At the top of the table, Pep Guardiola’s team is 15 points behind Liverpool, and every week that goes by makes it seem less possible that they will win the championship for the fifth time in a row.
Therefore, if City wants to win anything this season, it will be the FA Cup or the Champions League. But following yet another setback on their end, fans will hardly be hopeful, with one player in particular taking the brunt of the grief.
Ederson’s performance against the Madrid goalie appeared slow.
Ever since moving to Manchester from Benfica in 2017, Ederson has been a vital member of Guardiola’s City squad. The Brazilian has been firmly established as one of Europe’s top goalkeepers in recent years because to his exceptional delivery and lightning-fast reactions.
However, Ederson struggled with each of the three goals he gave up against Madrid. Even if Mbappe’s attempt was utterly scuffed, it was enough to outwit the Brazilian, who also took too long to respond to Diaz’s goal when the midfielder gave Madrid their second level of the evening.
After Rico Lewis made a bad pass backwards, Ederson, who earns almost £100,000 a week, decided to sprint off his line for Bellingham’s winner. Crucially, Vinicius Junior did enough to elevate it over Ederson and into Bellingham’s path, causing him to lose the race. He didn’t have much of an option, but a goalie must know that he will win the ball if he decides to break thus far from his goal.
Ederson had a reasonably strong start to the game, as shown by his match statistics. However, the shot-stopper’s lack of composure at that level is just not possible.
According to the GIVEMESPORT player ratings, he received a 5 out of 10. According to journalist Tom Parsons, Ederson “was beaten too easily for the goals and found himself in no man’s land for the winner as he raced out of his goal and failed to get to the ball.” The Express was just as critical.
The Response of Fans to Ederson’s Performance
Their goalie barely pleased the Cityzens.
Given the importance of the match, it seems sense that Ederson’s social media performance infuriated fans. “Ederson can never play for us again,” one fan wrote on X, the former name for Twitter, while another wrote: “Ederson, you gave a completely, utterly unacceptable performance.” That kind of performance ought to be his final match for the team. Absolute humiliation.
The goalie “can’t leave soon enough,” according to one supporter, while another called Ederson a “absolute disgrace to the badge of this club.” Another fan wrote, “Ederson has been shocking.”
