Geronimo Rulli dived full stretch to his left to save 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. The 34-year-old’s display may have some questioning Gianluigi Donnarumma’s place in the team, but manager Enzo Maresca has no doubt about his number one.
The match finished 2-2 after normal time and would have gone further had Rulli not made a sensational fingertip save to deny Georginio Rutter in the second half.
Rulli rejoined City in the summer from Marseille for a modest £1.7m, signed as a back-up to the Italy captain. His performance on Wednesday night suggested he is pressing his claims for the jersey. Even so, Rulli will return to the bench for this weekend’s Premier League game against the same opponents, despite many observers questioning 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 shootouts
Rulli is no stranger to being the hero in a penalty shootout. In the 2021 Europa League final, he scored a penalty for Villarreal against Manchester United, then denied opposite number David de Gea to decide the marathon shootout and the destiny of the trophy.
If he had not already won over City supporters with that moment against their rivals, he will have sealed their affection on Wednesday night.
Rulli spent the 2016-17 season at City without making a first-team appearance. He returned to replace James Trafford, the England international who moved to Leeds for £45m. On the evidence of this week, it looks like a canny piece of business from City.
Donnarumma under the microscope
In the pre-match news conference, Maresca said Rulli was “doing well” and “knows exactly his role” as understudy to Donnarumma, and he repeated that message after the game.
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 the Italian returns to training this week rejuvenated. The goalkeeper was at fault for Aston Villa’s second goal last weekend, and Maresca acknowledged 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.”
Another chance to go all the way
Maresca made nine changes to the side beaten at Aston Villa on Saturday, and the gamble nearly backfired. City twice fell behind to goals from Malick Yalcouye and 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 against Villa and Paris St-Germain, along with Arsenal in the Community Shield. Arsenal and Chelsea have both been knocked out of the League Cup, which leaves City to continue their quest 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.”