Speaking about Begovic in April, Cifuentes said: “I think that Asmir has been showing, as all the goalkeepers, it’s very easy to criticise the goalkeeper when they make one mistake, but instead we sometimes tend to forget, especially football fans, that Asmir was fantastic at Swansea for instance. We won 1-0, but he made two crucial saves in two crucial key moments.
“We won here at Hull a few months ago in a fantastic performance, again he saved the game for us. Those three points without him would have been impossible, absolutely. And today once again I said clearly that the big players show up on the big occasion, and I think that today he once again showed that his career is just good luck or whatever.
“He has been a top keeper playing at a top level for many years and today he showed once again that he is a very good keeper.”