Maresca backs goalkeeper Donnarumma after Leipzig error
Manchester City boss Enzo Maresca admitted Gianluigi Donnarumma made a mistake in their 3-2 Champions League victory over RB Leipzig but defended the goalkeeper following his error.
City secured all three points in Germany despite twice conceding, with Donnarumma coming under scrutiny for his role in Leipzig’s first equaliser.
Asked whether he was concerned by the Italian’s mistake, Maresca said: “It’s not a concern, but it’s a mistake. We recognise, he knows, that it’s a mistake.
“Now it’s 48 hours, Nottingham Forest away, we need to be focused on that. Then we have the international break and we can see different things.”
Maresca was later asked whether the upcoming international break would provide an opportunity to reassess his goalkeeping situation, but the City boss insisted he was not considering making changes.
“At the moment I’m not thinking about the international break and the goalkeeper situation,” he explained.
“Because we are talking about the mistake, but a few minutes before the mistake, he has done a save that any keeper in the world is not going to do that save.
“So it’s always a balance. And Gigi knows that the first goal was not good. But again, he’s going to do better.”
City’s defensive performances have come under increasing scrutiny following a run of seven matches without a clean sheet, with Maresca admitting his side must cut out individual errors.
“I think both goals are quite silly goals that we can avoid,” he said.
“I think we are creating, since day one, many chances in each game, but we need to avoid two conceded silly goals.”
Maresca also rejected suggestions that City’s defensive struggles were a consequence of his tactical approach, instead pointing to individual mistakes.
“Probably in the last five or six goals we conceded in all the competitions, they are almost individual mistakes. So it’s not about the system,” he said.
“It’s not about the defensive line or midfielder or the offensive line. In this moment it’s more individual mistakes that for sure we need to do better and to avoid that.”
