Geronimo Rulli saved the last two penalties from Brighton’s Yasin Ayari and Lewis Dunk, sending holders Manchester City through to the quarter-finals of the Carabao Cup. His performance may have raised questions about Gianluigi Donnarumma’s place in the side, but manager Enzo Maresca has no doubt about his number one.
Rulli rejoined City in the summer from Marseille for a modest £1.7m to serve as back-up to the Italy captain. The 34-year-old made a strong case to challenge for the jersey on Wednesday night. After the match ended 2-2 in normal time, he dived full stretch to his left to keep out both spot-kicks in the shootout.
Rulli also made a sensational fingertip save to deny Georginio Rutter in the second half, without which the game would not have reached a shootout.
Despite his display, Rulli will return to the bench for this weekend’s Premier League meeting with Brighton, even as many have questioned Donnarumma’s recent form.
Asked whether Rulli had put pressure on Donnarumma’s position, Maresca said: “No, absolutely not from my point of view.
“He is working well but Rulli knows exactly his role, there is no doubt about that. Saturday it will be Gigio plus 10.”
A natural in the shootout
Rulli has form as a penalty shootout hero. In the 2021 Europa League final, he scored a penalty for Villarreal against Manchester United and then saved from David de Gea to settle the marathon shootout and decide the trophy.
Rulli spent the 2016-17 season at City without making a first-team appearance. He returned to replace James Trafford, who joined Leeds for £45m, and his performance on Wednesday will have won over City supporters further.
Maresca said Rulli was “doing well” and “knows exactly his role” as understudy to Donnarumma before the game, and he repeated that message afterwards.
Donnarumma has been given three days off, along with Erling Haaland, Ruben Dias, Elliot Anderson and Josko Gvardiol, to “recover the energy.” Maresca will hope he returns to training rejuvenated. Donnarumma was at fault for Aston Villa’s second goal last weekend, and Maresca acknowledged that he has been “making some mistakes.”
“Apart from penalties, overall he was good especially in the build-up,” Maresca said of Rulli. “It was not easy because they are a team that go man to man and are aggressive.
“In the first half, we tried some long solutions with Floyd [Samba] and then in the second half we tried on the floor with Phil [Foden]. He made one good save and was good.”
City look to go all the way again
Maresca made nine changes to the side that lost at Aston Villa on Saturday, and the rotation nearly backfired. City fell behind twice, but Brighton’s hosts showed plenty of fight to equalise both times.
The result extends Maresca’s strong start as manager. City have lost only to Villa and Paris Saint-Germain, as well as to Arsenal in the Community Shield.
Arsenal and Chelsea have both been knocked out of the League Cup, leaving City to continue their defence of the trophy. They face Bradford in the quarter-finals.
Asked whether this was a big opportunity to go all the way again, Maresca said: “Absolutely.
“It’s a different competition but the ambition has to be the same: this is a new project, new players, a new manager who started three months ago and we need to do our business and that is winning games.”