Nathan Ake says the Manchester City dressing room have rallied round Zack Steffen after his Wembley calamity that handed Liverpool a decisive FA Cup semi-final goal. The USA international goalkeeper seemed to freeze to allow Sadio Mane a gift goal that made it 2-0 to Jurgen Klopp’s team, and when Mane added a third just before half-time, the tie appeared to be over.
Goals from Jack Grealish and Bernardo Silva gave City a glimpse of a comeback but in the end Liverpool held on to reach the final. Steffen was clearly gutted by his error, and his fellow keepers Ederson and Scott Carson made a bee-line for him at the final whistle to offer their support.
It was the second time Steffen has had a nightmare at Wembley after his mistake handed Hakim Ziyech the winner for Chelsea in last year’s semi-final. Ake was one of City’s best players on the day, and he said that the dressing room has rallied round the goalkeeper.
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“He’s a strong character. He knows everyone is there for him,” said Ake. “Everyone can make a mistake - I’ve done it and everyone has done it in their career, for sure. It’s unlucky and the team is there for him.”
Ake said Steffen was far from being the only one to blame for a dismal first half in which City offered little attacking threat, conceded to an Ibrahima Konate header from a corner, and conceded another to Mane just before the half-time whistle.
Asked how they felt about the display, Ake said: “Disappointed, It was a game of two halves. Very bad, and too slow in the build-up and too slow in the pressing - everything was behind them and we know how good they are.
“And then the only thing you can do is fight back. We said that to each other, and we should be proud of the way we came out in the second half. It’s just unfortunate that we didn’t come back to draw the game. At half-time we knew we didn’t play well and had to change things. We did that in the second half, but in these kinds of games sometimes it’s too late.”
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