Pep Guardiola hints at Man City goalkeeper taking over penalty duties

Believe it or not, the footballing world isn’t a total stranger to goalkeepers taking regular set-pieces – and as a result, scoring loads of goals. 

For example, Brazilian ‘keeper Rogerio Ceni sealed his iconic status at Sao Paulo after playing 576 games and scoring a simply remarkable 65 goals – that’s a ratio of more than one every 10 games throughout his whole 24-year career.

Most of those came from free-kicks and penalties, although he also notched one from open play – but, unsurprisingly, never scored in 18 caps for his country.

Now, we may have another Brazilian goalscorer from within the sticks to canonise.

Manchester City stopper Ederson has never scored a goal, but used to play as a right-back growing up and has vast futsal experience – and we’ve seen that he’s more than comfortable with his feet.

At the pre-match press conference ahead of The Citizens’ FA Cup tie with Swansea on Wednesday, manager Pep Guardiola has surprisingly claimed he could take the penalties, saying: “[Ederson] has to save the goals and after that, we will see what happens.

“Now Aguero is out and Kevin [De Bruyne is] not here, it is an option, of course it is. The penalty taker has to have personality, to say okay I’m going to shoot this and score.”

Sao-Paulo born stopper Ederson comes loaded with intrigue and a reputation for insane footwork

Ederson’s antics went viral on social media when he was playing one-two’s with his teammates on the halfway line during a 3-0 victory over Wolves in January 2019.

The 27-year-old then played in midfield during a charity match in Brazil and, incredibly, scored twice including one from the penalty spot. 

I’d imagine Swansea is tougher opposition than he faced that day, and we don’t expect to be hearing about an Ederson brace come Wednesday night, but it would be funny to see if the stopper can step up and deliver in the big moment.

Three out of City’s seven penalties in the 2020/21 season have been missed, including Ilkay Gundogan at the weekend during their 4-1 rout of Liverpool – step forward Ederson Santana de Moraes?