The two former Old Firm star turns have found themselves on opposite sides of a goalkeeping debate after ex-Rangers manager Gerrard likened Manchester City No.1 Donnarumma to a “wet Weetabix” while criticising his recent performances. Hart has now hit back at that description and explained why he believes the Italian’s struggles need.

Hart, speaking on Overlap Daily, said: “The job’s not to save everything, because there are so many hindsight goalkeepers, and I hear them all the time and I understand it. I heard people talking about it. I think Stevie G was talking on here and he used a term about Donnarumma which didn’t make me happy. It didn’t feel right, and I would never do that.

“No, no, I love Stevie. Stevie’s awesome and he knows that. But it’s just my goalkeeping. I think goalkeeping is special. My protective blanket came on when he talked about Donnarumma being one-on-one against Aston Villa and Nicholas Jackson.

“If you’re on that angle and you want to make it as difficult as you can for someone to beat you, you can’t afford to stand on that tight angle. You can’t afford to have your hands up here because the easiest finish is the wrap-around. So you almost have to say, ‘If you want to beat me, you’ve got it.’

“You rarely see someone thrashing it. You’ll see a goal where they flail at it, but it’s the hardest finish because you’ve got the least control. The top players can curl it, they can smash it, they can get their head over the ball. As we hear everyone talking about, lift your head and lean back. It’s not an easy finish.

“Jackson got one to about here, and then Gvardiol had a similar moment against Suzuki in the second half. His hands were low and it was probably just about head height, and he had the speed and timing to get his hands here rather than there, and he flicked it onto the bar.

“There are tiny little bits that come into goalkeeping, about making it as difficult as you possibly can. With Donnarumma at the moment, I think he went a little bit away from that. He was trying to help the team rather than just be the top goalkeeper that he is.”