An extraordinary turn of event in Wednesday's Champions League clash between Atalanta and Manchester City saw the latter ending the fixture with an outfield player guarding its goal post. It was none other than England defender Kyle Walker who accepted the mantle of safeguarding the net for the Citizens after they lost both Ederson to an injury and second-choice Claudio Bravo to a red card.
The Brazilian goalkeeper was replaced at half-time after picking up a knock but his successor could not last the whole duration of the second half, having received his marching orders 10 minutes from full-time. The former Barcelona shot-stopper was shown a straight red card after he hacked down Atalanta's Josip Ilicic right outside his penalty area.
Ederson: Subbed at half-time
— B/R Football (@brfootball) November 6, 2019
Bravo: Sent off
Manchester City's goalkeeper: right-back Kyle Walker pic.twitter.com/fyLtD5leuc
With no other goalkeeper available to man the post, Pep Guardiola resorted to throwing on Kyle Walker who had been replaced with Joao Cancelo at right-back for the night's encounter. With a beaming smile on his way, the England international entered the fray the expense of Riyad Mahrez in the 88th minute and managed to collect Atalanta's attempt on goal from the free-kick caused by Bravo.
It was a nervy ending for a Manchester City side that opened the scoring via Raheem Sterling in the seventh minute but had Mario Palasic equalizing for the hosts in the early minutes of the second half. Watch Walker's introduction and free-kick save below:
Scenes in Italy as Kyle Walker goes in goals for Man City
— SuperSport (@SuperSportTV) November 6, 2019
Substitute goalie Claudio Bravo has been sent off after fouling Josip Iličić. With Ederson having gone off injured, Kyle Walker puts on the gloves and comes on to save the Atalanta free-kick, barely #UCL pic.twitter.com/dkzhm9YQsR