Geronimo Rulli’s penalty shootout display against Brighton in the Carabao Cup may have prompted questions about Gianluigi Donnarumma’s place at Manchester City, but manager Enzo Maresca has no doubt about his number one. Rulli dived full stretch to his left to save the last two penalties, from Brighton’s Yasin Ayari and Lewis Dunk, sending holders City into the quarter-finals.
The 34-year-old returned to the club this summer from Marseille for a modest £1.7m to serve as back-up to the Italy captain. He pressed his claims to challenge for the jersey with an impressive performance.
The match ended 2-2 after 90 minutes and would have gone to extra time had Rulli not made a sensational fingertip save to deny Georginio Rutter in the second half.
Rulli will return to the bench for Saturday’s Premier League match against the same opponents, even though many have questioned Donnarumma’s form in recent weeks.
Asked whether Rulli had put pressure on Donnarumma’s place, 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.”
Rulli rises to the occasion again
Rulli has form as a penalty shootout hero. In the 2021 Europa League final, he scored a penalty for Villarreal against Manchester United, then denied David de Gea to decide the marathon shootout and the destiny of the trophy.
If Rulli had not already won over City supporters with that moment against their rivals, he will have sealed their affection on Wednesday night. He spent the 2016-17 season at City without making a first-team appearance, and he returned to replace James Trafford, who joined Leeds for £45m. It looks like a canny piece of business from City.
In the pre-match news conference, Maresca said Rulli was “doing well” and “knows exactly his role” as understudy to Donnarumma. He repeated that message after the game.
Donnarumma, along with Erling Haaland, Ruben Dias, Elliot Anderson and Josko Gvardiol, has been given three days off to “recover the energy”. Maresca will hope the Italian returns to training this week 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 chase another cup run
Maresca made nine changes to the side beaten at Aston Villa on Saturday, and the gamble almost backfired. City twice fell behind to goals from Malick Yalcouye and Georginio Rutter, but the hosts showed their battling spirit to draw level through Mateo Kovavic and Vitor Reis.
The result extends Maresca’s impressive start as manager. City have lost only to Villa and Paris St-Germain, as well as to Arsenal in the Community Shield. Arsenal and Chelsea have both been knocked out of the League Cup, which leaves City to continue their bid to retain the trophy against 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.”