Pep Guardiola has been giving his opinion on who the best goalkeeper in the world is and his answer is sure to cause quite a stir.
The Manchester City boss has worked with some of the best in the business in the goalkeeping department and he's continued to shower praise on current shot-stopper Claudio Bravo, who has come under immense criticism in his debut season in the Premier League.
Image: PA
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The Chilean has made a number of high-profile errors for City this season, his most recent being a tamely hit shot from Hull defender Andrea Ranocchia to make the score 3-1 at the Etihad yesterday.
Guardiola is continually asked about Bravo but not one to openly criticise his players, he maintains that he is happy with his goalkeeper.
And when asked about the 33-year old, who was brought back into the starting XI yesterday, Guardiola was again complimentary of the former Barcelona goalkeeper and says he is among the best goalkeepers in the world.
He said:
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"I decide [to put him in the team].
"I had no reason, Willy [Caballero] is training good. I will decide game by game.
"With our build up Claudio is the best goalkeeper in the world with [Marc Andre] Ter Stegen and Manuel Neuer in the build-up, with the feet, and he help us a lot to create good build-up."
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In short, Guardiola is saying that Bravo is up there with Ter Stegen and Neuer when it comes to playing out from the back and in fairness, he probably is in that area.
Image: PA
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His distribution and passing is very good and that is something that is valuable to Guardiola and his way of playing. You need to have "the personality to play" as Guardiola often says.
After all, that was why he did not see Joe Hart as part of his plans.
However, the first aim for a goalkeeper is obviously to stop the other team from scoring and Bravo has not been at the races in terms of his shot-stopping ability - anytime the opposition team get a decent opportunity they seem to score. He always seems to concede from his first shot on target, which is incredibly poor.
The other aforementioned goalkeepers, Neuer and Ter Stegen are supremely comfortable on the ball but also bring a commanding presence that Bravo does not possess.
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There was no way Guardiola was going to rip into Bravo or publically demand improvement from him, but making such a bold statement after another mistake from Bravo was certainly very strange timing.
(h/t Yahoo Sport)
Featured Image Credit:Topics: Pep Guardiola, Manuel Neuer