Thursday 20 October 2016 13:19, UK
Manchester City's second choice goalkeeper Willy Caballero admitted he could have got into the same mess as Claudio Bravo in their Champions League thrashing at Barcelona.
Caballero had to come off the bench in the second half of the Lionel Messi-inspired 4-0 defeat at the Nou Camp after Bravo was sent off for handling outside the area.
Bravo got stranded outside his area and batted away Luis Suarez's attempted lob after miscuing a pass straight to the former Liverpool striker.
The Chile international, on what proved to be a dismal return to his former club, had been carrying out the instructions of manager Pep Guardiola to operate as a sweeper when he blundered and Caballero sympathised.
"We take the decisions in small seconds and in this case Claudio tried to keep playing, as we usually do," Caballero said. "Unfortunately the game switched to the side of Barcelona.
"Maybe I would have tried to do the same because our way now is to keep the ball and try to play, but we are different keepers. Nobody knows what is the best decision."
Caballero will now get a chance when Barca travel to the Etihad Stadium as Bravo sits out the next round of Group C fixtures in a fortnight through suspension.
But Guardiola otherwise will keep faith with Bravo after immediately backing his keeper and defending his desire to play out from the back after the game.
Despite falling behind to a first-half Messi strike, City were holding their own until the game turned away from them after Bravo's error, and Caballero feels City performed much better than the score line suggested.
"We deserved another result because we created one, maybe two, chances but we did not have the fortune that they had in the first half," Caballero said. "After that, in the second half, we started to play very well again but after the red card against Claudio there was too much space for the attacking strikers for Barcelona. It was so difficult.
"I think the most important thing now is to return to winning. We need it and we miss it. We miss wins. We need to win the next game."
