Pep Guardiola would rather lose against Chelsea with Zack Steffen in goal than lose the dressing room by changing his approach.
In his first season in English football, 26-year-old Steffen has settled well and in addition to the expected duties as City No.2 in the domestic cups he also stepped up at the start of 2021 when Ederson was sidelined with Covid, with the American between the sticks as City won at Stamford Bridge in the Premier League.
Guardiola showed in the 2018/19 season that he was willing to bring Ederson back in to the team for cup games if he thought it was best for the team as Aro Muric was benched for the league cup final with Chelsea despite playing in every previous round of the competition.
However, the City boss believes that bringing his No.1 in for the Chelsea game would do more harm than good - especially when Steffen has impressed in the games he has played.
"He’ll start, always I’ve done it like this," said Guardiola.
"Maybe we are going to win or we are going to lose but if Zack doesn’t play I’m going to lose the team and it is better to lose a game than lose the team.
"He played really well in the FA Cup, he’s a keeper from the US national team, and when he has played he played a good level. He is a lovely guy, training good and he deserves it. I’m more than delighted to give him the chance.
"I don’t want Zack to do what Eddy does. He has to do what he can: try to save the balls. We're going to try to help him to concede as few chances as possible and after that do a good game. We trust him a lot and that’s why he’s here."
