Claudio Bravo has full support of Manchester City team-mates despite latest gaffe, says Pablo Zabaleta
Pablo Zabaleta says his Manchester City
team-mates will rally round Claudio Bravo after another difficult night
for the under-fire goalkeeper.
Bravo,
who has recently been dropped for Willy Caballero, endured the indignity
of being taunted by his own fans in City's FA Cup fifth-round replay
victory over Huddersfield on Wednesday.
The
Chilean, playing for just the second time in seven games, was
sarcastically applauded and cheered after making a save during the 5-1
triumph at the Etihad Stadium.
Claudio Bravo endured another tricky night in goal for Manchester City on Wednesday
Bravo was beaten far-too-easily by Huddersfield's Harry Bunn in the early stages of the match
Supporters' disdain had been fuelled
by an early error from the 33-year-old as he allowed a saveable Harry
Bunn shot to pass under his body and give the Sky Bet Championship side a
surprise lead.
That merely continued a
theme after Bravo conceded from all six of the shots he faced in
successive games against Everton and Tottenham in January.
Those
performances cost Bravo, who controversially supplanted Joe Hart
earlier this season, his place in the side, with Caballero taking over
until manager Pep Guardiola's usual domestic cup rotation policy saw him
return.
Defender Zabaleta said: 'We know Claudio. It's not easy when you come to England - it's a different league.
Defender Pablo Zabaleta offered his full support to beleaguered goalkeeper Bravo
Pep Guardiola has also backed the under-fire keeper though he did make him No 2 choice
'We
are a team, we support each other. We know exactly what he can do for
the team and that's it. We know how good he is and sometimes it is just
about confidence.
'His distribution with the ball was really good.'
City,
who had hit the post through Leroy Sane early on, were initially
stunned by the seventh-minute strike from Bunn, who is a Manchester City
academy graduate.
But, with Guardiola having named a strong side, they powered back to take charge before the break.
Two penalty appeals had been turned down before Sane levelled and Aguero, who also hit the post, put them ahead from the spot.
Aguero
teed up the third for Zabaleta and added a fourth in the second half.
Substitute Kelechi Iheanacho completed the scoring in stoppage time.
Zabaleta said: 'I think if you look at the whole game, we were the better team.
Zabaleta scored from close range as Manchester City eventually ran out 5-1 winners
Sergio Aguero (middle) scored twice in the 5-1 win to set up a trip to Middlesbrough next
'Maybe
in the first 15 minutes we gave the ball away cheaply and maybe our
play was a little bit sloppy, but once we equalised and then scored the
second goal I think we were a different team and we looked very
dangerous going forward.'
City will now
play Middlesbrough in the quarter-finals and, with the Premier League
title looking out of reach and the Champions League tough, the
competition could represent their best hope of silverware this term.
Zabaleta
said: 'We know how important the FA Cup is and, of course, every single
trophy for us is important. We are just working hard to win something
and it's one of the things we are looking for. Of course we want to go
to Wembley again.'
Huddersfield, third
in the Championship, now turn their attention back to their promotion
challenge and a tough clash against the league leaders on Saturday.
Midfielder
Dean Whitehead said: 'We can take a lot of positives from our cup run
but we will forget about this quickly now and focus on Newcastle.'
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