Sports

Pep defends ‘calamity’ keeper Bravo

Published

8 years ago

October 20, 2016

PEP Guardiola defended Claudio Bravo and his decision to leave out Sergio Aguero after his Barcelona homecoming ended in a 4-0 thrashing for Manchester City.

The ruthless Lionel Messi scored a hat-trick while Neymar, who also missed a penalty, added a late fourth in a frantic Champions League Group ‘C’ clash at the Nou Camp.

Guardiola surprisingly decided to leave fit-again star striker Aguero on the bench and then saw Bravo, the goalkeeper in whom he has invested much faith, blunder.

Bravo, signed from Barca for his ability to play with his feet, misplaced a pass to Luis Suarez and then handled his attempted lob outside the box, earning a red card. The score was only 1-0 at that point in the 53rd minute, and Barca – and Messi in particular – dramatically turned up the heat.

Asked about his philosophy concerning goalkeepers playing out from the back, Guardiola said: “There will be no change. It stays the same. I’m sorry, until the last day of my career as a coach I will try to play from our goalkeeper.

“Sometimes there are mistakes and sometimes you have to kick the ball out but most of the time, when we play good, it starts from there.”

There had been fitness concerns over Aguero last week but Guardiola confirmed the decision to name him on the bench was tactical, leaving Kevin De Bruyne to operate as a makeshift striker, or ‘false nine’.

Guardiola said: “It was my idea. I wanted one more midfield player in that position and that was the reason why.”

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