Ederson ready to bet Champions League glory on continuing to ‘play with personality’

The Brazilian goalkeeper has been practising for penalties ahead of Man City’s meeting with Inter Milan

Richard Jolly
Senior Football Correspondent
Wednesday 07 June 2023 13:10 EDT
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(Getty Images)

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Ederson has vowed to dye his hair blue again if Manchester City win the Champions League.

The goalkeeper marked his fifth Premier League title by adopting a new look and will celebrate in the same style if Pep Guardiola’s team beat Internazionale in Istanbul.

The Brazilian revealed the inspiration came from his daughter but is adamant his brighter hairstyle will only be a short-term affair.

He explained: “My daughter asked me to dye my hair blue for that. It was a kid’s spray that comes out with water. Of course, if we are champions again, I’ll dye my hair blue again, but only with the kid’s spray that comes out with water – nothing permanent.”

Ederson is waiting to discover if any of his teammates will join him in looking, if not feeling, blue. “I’m not sure,” he said.

The 29-year-old has been practicing in case the game on Saturday goes to a penalty shootout, which would give him the chance to be the hero.

He added: “We will work on every requirement: whether that is finishing, crosses, penalties. In this game, we need to be prepared for any circumstance over 90 minutes, and 120 or penalties if necessary. We need to be ready for any situation so that nothing surprises us.”

Ederson is known for his composure as City try to pass the ball out from the back and he said he does not feel nervous.

“I think any City keeper needs to be calm, to play with personality,” he added. “There are a lot of teams that try to pressure us, so you need to be calm, get the ball under control and have the vision to find the right pass. I remember a game against Tottenham where I misplaced a pass and it led to a goal.

“I said to my teammates after, ‘You can still pass to me’, because errors are part of the process. Errors help us to grow, we learn a lot from mistakes. I mainly learn from errors. You can learn a lot more from making a mistake than you can from doing thigs right, or from winning. So I always try to keep calm, to pass this calmness onto my teammates as well, so that they know that they can play the ball to me and that I’m calm enough to make the right decision.”

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