Gianluigi Donnarumma’s future at Manchester City has been confirmed by manager Enzo Maresca after he was benched for the Carabao Cup victory over Brighton.

Geronimo Rulli was City’s hero on the night as he saved two penalties in a shootout to eliminate the Seagulls and set up a clash with Bradford in the quarter-finals. The Argentine’s efforts in normal time were also decisive as he made a brilliant stop from Georginio Rutter.

With the Italy international’s form under question, Maresca has elected to stick by the former PSG star, giving him his full backing ahead of the Premier League clash against Brighton at the weekend.

Maresca was asked if he would be tempted to keep Rulli in goal for the foreseeable future, but told BBC Sport: “No, absolutely not from my point of view. He is working well but Rulli knows exactly his role, there is no doubt about that. Saturday it will be Gigio plus 10.”

The Man City boss admitted in the aftermath of the 2-1 Premier League loss against Aston Villa that Donnarumma has been below par.

“Gigio, since we started, is doing well. Like any player or any manager at some point, he is making some mistakes, but it's part of the season,” he told the media.

“They are playing so many games and minutes that sometimes it's impossible not to make some mistakes. He's quite a strong guy.

“He knows when he makes some mistakes. He doesn't need us to tell him. Sometimes it's so clear, so they recognise that. It's part of the game.”

Donnarumma's form is better than you think

Despite the big mistakes that Donnarumma has made, he still has a positive goals prevented statistic of 0.53.

This measures the quality of all the shots that the goalkeeper has faced this season and subtracts the number of goals that he has conceded. A negative number would indicate that he had allowed more shots past him than expected while a positive figure points towards a goalkeeper who is above average in terms of his shot-stopping.

Despite this, City’s decision to sell James Trafford to Leeds is one that is increasingly coming into focus because of Donnarumma’s errors. The England keeper has prevented 1.96 goals so far this season, the second-best record in the league behind Brighton’s Bert Verbruggen (2.32).

Donnarumma, though, clearly retains the faith of Maresca and is Man City’s No.1 for the foreseeable future.