Manchester City goalkeeper Zack Steffen had a moment to forget in the FA Cup semifinal against Liverpool on Saturday (stream LIVE at 10:30 a.m. ET on ESPN+ in the U.S.).
Steffen, playing ahead of usual No. 1 Ederson for City in the cup games, gifted the Reds a second goal after dawdling on the ball before being closed down by Sadio Mane, only to see the ball divert into the net.
The United States international could only hang his head after the error, but City fans almost saw something similar the last time the two teams met in the Premier League last week.
Zack Steffen tried to channel his inner Ederson 😅 pic.twitter.com/2dHJQQqOQa
— ESPN FC (@ESPNFC) April 16, 2022
Hearts were in mouths at one point during the 2-2 draw on April 11 when Ederson’s attempt to coolly play out from the back came within inches of backfiring on him.
With Liverpool forward Diogo Jota bearing down on him at pace, Ederson took a heavy touch under pressure and almost steered the ball across his own goal line, only to side-foot the ball clear to a teammate in the nick of time.
Despite his hair-raising brush with calamity, the Brazil international was able to make light of the incident in the aftermath as he posted a still image of his goal-line clearance along with a thumbs-up emoji.
We can only hope that Steffen is able to do the same eventually, as social media could not believe what it saw.
Zach Steffen with a monstrous error, but I swear we saw the exact play last week.
Only difference is Ederson gets away with it.
Costly mistake. Nonetheless for a GK trying to recoup confidence and playing time. pic.twitter.com/NfJcIz0ZCG
— herculez gomez (@herculezg) April 16, 2022
A possible explanation won’t make it feel any better.
Difference between Steffen situation and Ederson from last week is Ederson’s touch took the ball away from pressure into space while Steffen’s touch totally killed the ball in a moment when he needed to keep it moving. When you stop the ball like that bad things happen…
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