Goalkeeper Humiliation Shows Why Pep Guardiola Won’t Let Ederson Take Penalties

A goalkeeper being utterly humiliated from kick-off shows why Pep Guardiola is never going to let Ederson near penalty duties.

Pep joked that he might finally let the eager Brazilian take Manchester City's next pen after Ilkay Gundogan's miss at Anfield meant City have missed eight spot-kicks since the start of last season.

But Hans-Jorg Butt is living proof of why that's a bad idea.

The former Bayer Leverkusen keeper stepped up and coolly buried a penalty in the Bundesliga back in 2004.

But as he was running back to his goal - high-fiving teammates and applauding fans - the ball sailed over his astonished head into the net. Schalke had taken a quick kick-off and Mike Hanke had lobbed the ball from the halfway line into the unguarded goal.

A disaster for Butt, but an incredible moment. Has a goal ever been cancelled out quicker?

Of course, it wasn't all his fault: while many keepers sprint rather than jog back to goal after attempting a penalty, Schalke couldn't have kicked off if there was a Leverkusen player still in their own half.

So all it would take for Guardiola to let Ederson on penalties is for, say, Raheem Sterling to stay firmly in the opposition half... But that only works if Ederson doesn't miss.

Butt certainly wasn't put off by his embarrassment, however. The former German international successfully netted two penalties the following season.

City stopper Ederson has laid claim to being the best penalty taker at the Etihad (not much of a boast to be honest), following his time at former club Ribeirao.

"I don't train much free-kicks," said the Brazil international, per The Mirror. "I trained penalties and when I played for Ribeirao I took some free-kicks but that is in the past now.

"I am the best penalty taker but I am not chosen to take them!"

Gundogan's skied penalty didn't cost City at Anfield, as they departed with a 4-1 win (with help from an unusually error-prone Alisson in the Liverpool goal).

However the series of spot-kick misses is clearly on Guardiola's mind.

"It's a problem that we have. In important moments, we cannot miss it, and it doesn't matter the taker," he said post-match.

"Again, I'm going to think about Ederson, he might be the taker next time."

Make it happen, Josep. It's time we saw some Hans-Jorg Butt-level entertainment in the Premier League.

All imagery: PA Images

Topics: Football News, Football, Pep Guardiola, Ederson, Bundesliga

Alex Reid

Alex Reid is a writer at SPORTbible who’s previously strung words together for FourFourTwo, Boxing News, The Guardian and, yes, Cruise International (it’s about big ships, not Tom). Interests range from football and boxing to real sports like WWE and darts. He is not a cage fighter.

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