There are few better sights in football than outfield players in goal.
It happens very rarely, but Manchester City’s trip to Atalanta was one of those occasions.
Leading 1-0 at half time thanks to a Raheem Sterling strike, the Citizens emerged for the second half without their number one Ederson, who is believed to have picked up an injury.
Claudio Bravo was then introduced between the sticks and conceded just four minutes later as Mario Pasalic headed home an equaliser.
And before the Chilean number two could even make a save at the San Siro, he returned to the dressing room after being sent off.
Kyle Walker in goal
Bravo was awarded a red card for a brutal challenge on Josip Ilicic as the last man, meaning that City had to select an outfield player as their goalkeeper.
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Kyle Walker was summoned from the bench to inherit that responsibility and after some initial confusion, eventually took his place on the Champions League stage.
The mere sight of the England right-back in the goalkeeping jersey looked bizarre, but he immediately made a save – more than Ederson and Bravo had all match – from the resulting free kick.
It certainly wasn’t the most competent of handling from Walker, but what else would you expect from somebody playing as a professional goalkeeper for the first time?
Clean sheet for Walker
And with Atalanta failing to score a winning goal, Walker bagged himself a clean sheet.
Naturally, that led to some hilarious statistics and few come better than the fact Walker has maintained more clean sheets than David de Gea since September 14.
