Man City vs Real Madrid: Donnarumma & PSG’s Impact | Champions League

The whole challenge, for him, was to show the Premier League giant that his true level was this. But ultimately, “Gigio” has not really changed and his season resembles less his last exercise in Paris than all the previous ones. The quality of his kicking game, which was at the heart of questions about his compatibility with the Guardian game, is still a subject that regularly comes up at press conferences. And which forces the City coach, like Luis Enrique before him, to come to his defense.

“Donnarumma is very good at giving short passes at the right tempoGuardiola insisted again a few weeks ago. He can’t find long passes like Ederson did. But no other goalkeeper is capable of it. But Gigio is very good at keeping calm, making the first check, making the decisions and finding the right short pass. He’s much, much better than people think.”

Two gross errors in two crucial matches

Did the Italian goalkeeper misjudge his position and fear no longer being in his area? Was he simply surprised by Valverde’s choice? “He comes out at full speed and thinks about tackling outside his areaobserved former citizen goalkeeper Joe Hart, with our colleagues at TNT Sports. And then, at the moment when the ball passes in front of him, as he imagines himself coming out of his area, he makes the decision by saying to himself: ‘I can’t afford to concede a penalty or a red card, so I’m going to sacrifice myself and concede a goal‘.”

The Italian finally conceded a penalty much later, shortly before the hour mark, which he superbly erased by stopping Vinicius’ attempt. Defended, once again, after the meeting by Guardiola, who thanked him for thus preserving a very small chance of qualification for Manchester City, Donnarumma relived these European evenings where he became the face of a collective failure.