Manchester City goalkeeper Willy Caballero played his second Premier League fixture of the season during their 3-1 win over Southampton yesterday.
The 34-year-old Argentine stopper, understudy to Joe Hart, was gifted the opportunity as Hart sustained a minor hamstring injury during their 1-0 defeat against Juventus in midweek.
Time to shine
In Hart's absence in the past, Caballero has been unspectacular and shaky at times. Prior to kick-off on Saturday lunchtime, Manuel Pellegrini was quizzed about his selections to start the game.
On Caballero, he admitted that although he hasn't had much opportunities, he has the utmost confidence in the experienced goalkeeper to do his job well.
String of excellent saves
Caballero was unlucky not to keep a clean sheet against Southampton, and made a string of excellent saves in either half to thwart the visitors' counter-attacking threat.
Dusan Tadic and Sadio Mané especially both went close with respective strikes on-goal, as well as goalscorer Shane Long, but the Argentine was alert to the danger posed and did an effective job to keep the sky Blues in-front at all times once they broke the deadlock early on.
It was an overall encouraging display, better than the performance during their 4-1 thrashing at White Hart Lane, with a ruthless Tottenham side picking them apart in an inspired second-half display.
Weary of threats team pose
The former Malaga man was watching on from the substitutes' bench as Liverpool humbled the Blues with counter-attacking brilliance last weekend, but Caballero admitted the team have learned their lessons from the defeat.
"From the first minute, we were hungry to win. We needed to take [top spot] again, we cannot concede another result at home again. We must be ready for every game - every team."
On his personal performance, Caballero told City TV: "I think this was my best performance was with this shirt, but I'll try to have another good performance in the next game."
Caballero will start in goal against Hull City on Tuesday evening, and naturally will also be hoping for a similarly good display in an important Capital One Cup quarter-final clash.