Claudio "El Diablito" Echeverri made his debut with the Manchester City jersey in the 1-0 loss against Crystal Palace in the FA Cup final. Despite the adverse result, his performance was highlighted by an important player of the team, Bernardo Silva, and by his coach, Pep Guardiola.
"I'm sure he will have a great future ahead," stated the Portuguese midfielder. Later, the sky-blue team's reference added: "He's amazing. You can see it in training, when he started, we were all surprised because we didn't know him".
Bernado Silva dijo que Echeverri tiene un gran futuro por delante
The player entered the field with 15 minutes remaining, replacing the Egyptian forward Omar Marmoush. In the final moments of the match, he was close to scoring the equalizer: after an assist from Kevin de Bruyne, he shot twice. First, Dean Henderson intervened, and then Jefferson Lerma blocked his second attempt after the rebound.
Already in added time (the referee gave 10 more minutes), El Diablito connected a cross sent by Jeremy Doku, but his direct shot was once again saved by goalkeeper Henderson.
After the end of the match and with the visibly affected youngster, Pep Guardiola approached to console him and supported his decision to put him on the field: "It wasn't a bad decision, with the way he played and the chances he had... He created three chances in tight spaces! I saw him very well in training". The coach also praised his natural talent: "He's playing and moving very well in tight spaces and is very creative".
