Hero keeper Muric, 20, repays act of faith in Manchester City's shootout victory

Pep Guardiola believes young Manchester City goalkeeper Aro Muric could operate comfortably as a central defender and the evidence for that arrived on the half-hour mark on Tuesday night.

Leicester, chasing the game by that point, had managed to pierce Guardiola’s back line. Eric Garcia, the Spanish 17-year-old debutant, was racing back in a bid to avert the danger. He need not have bothered.

Out rushed 20-year-old Muric, the Kosovan calmly taking one touch with Leicester attackers bearing down before splitting them with a pass into midfield. Crisis avoided.

Those two touches were Guardiola’s offensive positioning in action, with Muric having developed under coaches Xabi Mancisidor and Richard Wright. He capped that with two penaly saves in the shootout and made it all look so effortless — as if this is all second nature. What now needs to be worked on is his anxiety when distributing quickly, to choose that correct option each time.

Manchester City have high hopes for the kid labelled ‘crazy’ and that is why he has been afforded an extended run in the Carabao Cup side. This was sternest test yet after victories over Oxford United and Fulham.

The regard with which he is held was shown by City’s decision to recall him from a loan spell at NAC Breda after Claudio Bravo was injured in August.

Guardiola wanted to offer the 6ft 5in specimen an opportunity.

‘Aro has amazing potential,’ Guardiola said. ‘He played last season in the second team, where there is no real competition. ‘That’s why we wanted him to play in Holland but he came back. We trust in Aro. We know him. Last season he trained with us all season.’

Muric has barely put a foot wrong when the spotlight is on him and he stretched every sinew of his enormous frame to palm away a deflected Demarai Gray drive heading for the net.

Born in Switzerland but having pledged his international allegiance to Kosovo, Muric has not looked back over the last four months. He has been given a debut by Kosovo, keeping a clean sheet during victory over Azerbaijan last month.

Leicester’s equaliser here — scored with 16 minutes left by Marc Albrighton and about which Muric could do nothing — was the first he has conceded in five professional club matches.

As records go, it is not bad, and the feeling is that he is likely to be given a further chance in next month’s semi-final.