Football
Jonathan Smith, Manchester City correspondent 6y

Man City's Claudio Bravo 'always felt confident' defending penalty kicks

MANCHESTER -- Manchester City's shootout hero Claudio Bravo says he is always confident when matches goes to penalties.

The Chile international saved two spot-kick in City's 4-1 victory over Wolverhampton Wanderers on Tuesday night as Pep Guardiola's reached the fifth round of the EFL Cup.

Bravo has now saved five of his last six penalties in shootouts following Chile's 3-0 shootout victory over Portugal in the Confederations Cup in June.

He was also his country's hero when Chile won the Copa America on penalties in both 2015 and 2016 and even saved two spot-kicks when they were eliminated by Brazil at the 2014 World Cup.

"I have always felt confident. In my career, I have always been successful in these kind of situations," he told reporters.

"When there are penalties, I feel like a winner. What happened, happened. It was a match where we suffered the danger from the other team, they put us in trouble, but we leave with the feeling that we have done the things right, we have given our best and that is what fans appreciated.

"As far as I can remember in penalty shoot-outs we have lost once, I think it was against Brazil in the World Cup, I saved two penalties and we missed three, otherwise we would've advanced.

"But my approach in these situations is to be strong, to feel calm, to make the penalty taker feel nervous. But we hope that we continue and we can win the matches before they get to penalties."

It was a memorable night for the 34-year-old, who has not had a comfortable time at the Etihad Stadium since last summer's switch from Barcelona.

His form dipped last season and he has been replaced by new signing Ederson, who joined from Benfica in the summer.

But Bravo was the man of the match in the win over Wolves making three saves in one-on-one situations as the Championship leaders tried to pull off a major upset against unbeaten City.

"I think it was a special night," he said. "We weren't expecting the effort that the other side put in. I also want to congratulate them, they did a great job of controlling our game and creating very clear opportunities.

"I'm happy, I think if you prepare yourself, if you work hard, these type of things happen, and the team needed a good performance from me and that's how it went, but I'm as calm as I always have been.

"I want to do things well, support the team. I think it was a magnificent night to experience and I'm calm, calmer than ever."

Bravo says he has good relationship with Ederson and says he can help the 24-year-old Brazilian to improve further.

"We get on well," he added. "It would be egotistical to not help him grow, to not give him some words of advice.

"I think it's my job, with my experience, and it helps things go well and helps us to achieve things."

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