Gianluigi Donnarumma suffered the worst night of his Manchester City career so far on Wednesday.
The Citizens suffered a disastrous 3–0 defeat to Real Madrid and Donnarumma struggled for the full 90 minutes. He stopped a penalty which saved the Citizens an embarrassment but there were too many mistakes throughout the match.
The first goal was clearly his mistake and arguably, the Italian could have come off his line early for Federico Valverde's third goal as well.
The 26-year-old player also made a mistake in giving a penalty, which he saved and for this he was given a yellow card.
The goalkeeper's performances caught the attention of the Italian media, who were never far from the former AC Milan player.
Donnarumma's heated argument with the referee
tuttosport Note today that the Manchester City player was not happy with Italian referee Maurizio Mariani. This was true when he was booked for dishonesty which led to a fine.
The goalkeeper said to the official: "Why are you acting like a big shot? You're acting like a big shot."
The matter did not end there, as Donnarumma continued after a few seconds of silence: “Why are you giving me a yellow card?"
TuttoSport also released the player's comments to Sky Italia after the defeat. He looked hopeful of an unexpected comeback in the second leg at the Etihad.
"We have to play a completely different game in the return leg. I'm disappointed because we lost badly, but we're playing at home and hopefully the situation will change."
Donnarumma expressed confidence in Manchester City fans to help turn things around.
"With our fans, it will definitely be different. They will have to give us unprecedented promotion, but they will definitely do it because they are special"
Manchester City needs more from Donnarumma
The Italy international has been one of Manchester City's best players in the Premier League. However, on a crucial night at the Bernabeu, things fell through and the goalkeeper will have to be at his best form in the second leg.
Big performances are nothing new for him, having done so for Italy and Paris Saint-Germain last season. It is important to remember that Real Madrid are not at their best ahead of the second leg.
Their season has been full of ups and downs and it would be foolish to rule out a Manchester City comeback. If it's anything close to that, Donnarumma's penalty save on Vinicius Jr. could be a significant contribution in its own right.
