Bravo Claudio. Bravo.
There’s no doubt that Pep Guardiola has had an instant impact at Manchester City, but his much-touted goalkeeping revolution hasn’t been without its wobbles.
And unfortunately for Claudio Bravo, his worst moment in a City shirt so far happened to occur on his return to the club the club they signed him from.
City went into the break 1-0 down courtesy of a typically classy Lionel Messi goal, despite an impressive first-half performance from the visitors to Camp Nou.
But any hope they might have had of finding a way back into the game was very quickly blown away by a comically ridiculous flurry of mistakes from their £15m summer signing.
With Luis Suarez sniffing about, Bravo darting out of his box to make a clearance looked like the right call. Good sweeping.
But in a moment of sheer madness, the stuttering 33-year-old stopper decided to limply side foot the ball directly into the deadly Uruguayan’s path.
A moment of madness from @C1audioBravo who is shown red on his return to the Nou Camp.😳 #UCL #FCBCity https://t.co/PncdB9marC
— Football on TNT Sports (@footballontnt) October 19, 2016
Quick-thinking as ever, the Barcelona striker went to lob Bravo, who blocked the shot with his hands some way out of the penalty area, giving the referee the easiest decision he’d make all night.
Claudio Bravo is like an EA Sports FIFA glitch come to life
— Men in Blazers (@MenInBlazers) October 19, 2016
Messi went on to score a hat-trick against 10-man city, with the game finishing 4-0 – the joint-heaviest away defeat in Guardiola’s illustrious managerial career. Ouch.
We don’t need to remind you that Bravo arrived at The Etihad in August in slightly controversial fashion, with long-serving City No.1 Joe Hart making way for the Chilean.
And it won’t come as a surprise to any of you that the England goalkeeper’s name was popping up a lot on social media after Bravo’s sending off.
https://twitter.com/_Zeets/status/788831966128771073
https://twitter.com/razza699/status/788833218476802052
https://twitter.com/PanchoEssien/status/788846371562516484
https://twitter.com/FootbalIStuff/status/788832604061593600
Would pay good money for a Joe Hart Cam every time Claudio Bravo plays for City.
— Subscribe to GrantWahl.com (@GrantWahl) October 19, 2016
I am continually amazed by how many people are completely flummoxed by the idea that Guardiola might not think Joe Hart's all that.
— Rory Smith (@RorySmith) October 19, 2016
Joe hart must be sat with his feet up, a brew in hand, wetting himself at Man City's keeper choice 😂😂😂
— Gareth seddon (@Gazseddon) October 19, 2016
Bet Joe Hart is enjoying this Bravo performance.
— Hayles (@Hayles_101) October 19, 2016
We do wonder how that one went down in Turin.
