With Manchester City’s Capital One Cup campaign getting underway, in an intriguing clash away against Sunderland, the club’s second-choice goalkeeper is hoping for a start. Having exited the competition at the Last 16 stage against Newcastle in a surprising 2-0 home defeat, Manuel Pellegrini's men will be hoping for a much improved display this time around.
Dick Advocaat’s side sit at the bottom of the Premier League table – with only two points from a possible eighteen recorded thus far this term. Caballero only made six competitive appearances last campaign, two of which were in the league itself, and the former Malaga goalkeeper will undoubtedly be hoping for more opportunities this time around.
Caballero hoping for starting berth against Sunderland
That being said though, it’s both hard and a clash between two parties when it comes to Joe Hart, who has established himself as the club’s first-choice goalkeeper over the past five years. Still, he knows that Caballero is the club’s “cup goalkeeper”, and will be preferred to him in the domestic competitions, such as the Capital One Cup itself.
STAT: If Pellegrini does start the 33-year-old, it’ll be his first competitive fixture for eight months.
As quoted by the club’s official website, Caballero said: "We are a big team and everybody in the squad needs to be ready to play and take their opportunity when it comes along."
He continued, saying that focus is "not a problem" for him, and he’ll "be ready if selected to play", because it’d be a "great chance" for himself (as well as other players) to "change the dynamic of the last week", having lost twice in quick succession.
Caballero content with role within the squad
Having joined the Citizens from the sunny heights of Spain in July of last year, he admits he "knew the situation" of his place within the team before he joined the club, but he likes "how things are going", especially getting to continuously improve with Joe Hart, five years his junior.
Lastly, he praised the club and Hart himself: "This is the first really big club I’ve played for and I have a fantastic goalkeeper in-front of me [in Joe], who keeps improving which means I have to keep up with him, which is really good for me and my career."