Willy Caballero is confident he can replace Joe Hart should the goalkeeper be unavailable because of the hamstring problem he suffered in Manchester City’s defeat at Juventus on Wednesday.
Hart was forced out of the penultimate Group D game in the second half of the 1-0 defeat at Juventus Stadium and the club fear that he will miss their next match. The goalkeeper stated the problem may be only minor but City still had assessed it and must decide whether he can play on Saturday.
Southampton are the visitors to the Etihad Stadium and Caballero says he is ready if required. The Argentinian has not always performed well and was poor in the 4-1 loss at Tottenham Hotspur in September.
Yet of that defeat he said: “Always when you play badly or commit errors, you hope to play another game to put it behind you, to show that you are capable and that you deserve to be playing for an important team like City. Hopefully that chance will come and I will be able to do that.
“Of course it is not good that Joe had to come off, but I have to be prepared – that is the life of a substitute goalkeeper. Next time I am needed to play 15 or 20 minutes I will be ready, whenever that might be, but of course we hope that Joe recovers. He is a goalkeeper of the very highest level and he is playing very, very well. It is a nice opportunity for me to play a couple of games consecutively. But that depends on how Joe is and then it is up to the manager. I will train and I will be ready.”
Caballero was bought by Manuel Pellegrini in the summer of 2014 to provide competition to Hart. Yet the 34-year-old has made only 10 appearances. He admits being a No2 can be difficult.
“Sometimes, yes, sometimes no, if you’re training well and you’re prepared,” said Caballero. “You see the truth in a real game. In my last one, I made a mistake, but these things can happen even if you’re playing every week. What happened to me, when I have not had the chance to avenge that error the following week, the whole world still thinks about it. But what is important is to be calm and work every day and wait.”
The loss to Juventus means City’s hopes of winning the group are remote. They have to beat Borussia Mönchengladbach and hope Sevilla defeat Juve in the final round of games.
“It hurts to lose, and it hurts to lose because we played well in the first half,” Caballero said. “We had chances to score, but they are a great team and a team like that only needs half a chance to convert. The same thing happened at home. First place was our objective in the group, because we have never done that and it was important for us. Now we have to win at home and hope Juventus lose in Seville.
“He [the manager] said to be calm, we still have a chance to finish top in the last game, because Juventus have to go to Seville, but he was happy, because we played well. It was not the same as against Liverpool, when we did not play so well.”
