Pep Guardiola appeared horizontal on Friday about the prospect of handing Claudio Bravo his debut in the cauldron of Old Trafford in what is anticipated to be the most watched game in British top-flight history on the back of just two training sessions. “He is fit, he is ready,” the Manchester City manager said of the Chile goalkeeper, newly signed from Barcelona as Joe Hart’s replacement. “This kind of player – 33 years old – he has the experience.” But not necessarily experience of what is likely to be in store on Saturday lunchtime, and David de Gea, Manchester United’s keeper, will probably be the first to be encouraging his team-mates to pump balls into the penalty area as Jose Mourinho seeks to exploit his side’s huge height advantage over City.
De Gea found the aerial demands of English football taxing to begin with and will doubtless hope his fellow Spanish speaker encounters the same problems. At 6ft, Bravo is not the tallest goalkeeper and the prospect of the 6ft 5in Zlatan Ibrahimovic, 6ft 4in Marouane Fellaini and 6ft 3in Paul Pogba towering in the air would be daunting for any newcomer, regardless of their age. Guardiola looked up, almost ominously, when – unprompted - he raised the subject of United’s physical supremacy, an admission that ran counter to his relaxed approach about Bravo. “The set-pieces with these tall guys …,” he said. “They are taller than us, it’s impossible to control that”.
Here, are tweets from the Manchester United official twitter page.
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