Aston Villa boss Martin O'Neill hailed a fantastic performance from goalkeeper Brad Guzan as his Aston Villa side knocked Sunderland out of the Carling Cup.
The American saved four penalties - one at the end of normal time from Kenwyne Jones and three in the shoot-out which followed a goalless 120 minutes - as Villa edged into the last eight.
Guzan is the understudy to Brad Friedel at both club and international level but he was the key figure at the Stadium of Light.
O'Neill said: "The lads are pretty euphoric, none more so than Mr Guzan. He gave a fantastic performance and we are naturally delighted to have got through.
"He has been doing it for some time, I think he is a great keeper in the making. He has got everything and he is as brave as they come.
"He was immense in pre-season and that performance will elevate his confidence to new heights. You got the feeling that it would have to have been something special to beat him."
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looks like villa have a world class keepers lets hope they stay and villa can only get better it was an exelent win nice 1
F**k off O'Neill you're a @#$%!
FTM
Yeah Bruce was right, it would have taken something very special to beat Brad last night and thats why he wasnt beaten by Sunderland!!!!.
Brad`s got to be knocking on the door now for his shout as first choice keeper. Dont get me wrong, I think Brad snr. is doing great, but, my fear is that if guzan is kept in the wings for too long, he may get itchy feet and start looking elswhere. I know MoN gets some stick for rotating the players, but I dont think he would have any problems from the fans by rotating two fantastic keepers. Probably the best two in the premiership.
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