After Garath McCleary’s second half strike had forced Saturday’s clash with Arsenal into extra time, the Australian shotstopper inexplicably allowed a tame Alexis Sanchez shot slip through his grasp six minutes into the additional thirty, allowing the Gunners to book a second successive Cup Final appearance with a 2-1 win.
The 30-year-old shotstopper, who performed brilliantly apart from the mistake, has received unwavering support from his manager and team-mates but issued an apology via his Twitter account.
"Just like to say thank you for all your messages and how sorry I am for my mistake, we gave our all and deserved to at least take it pens," he posted.
"It's part of being a goal keeper and I'm sure it will make me stronger! Thank you again for your amazing support #readingfc."
Federici’s boss Steve Clarke was quick to back his keeper, and says he will bounce back immediately.
“It’s the life of a goalkeeper. Adam is obviously very upset, because he feels responsible for the defeat,” said Clarke.
“It's much better in a game like this that if you have to lose to a moment of brilliance. As I said after the game, we win together, we lose together.
“Adam is a strong character. All the players are 100% behind him, the staff are 100% behind him – he’ll bounce back . On Wednesday night when we play Birmingham, he’ll be typical Adam Federici - one of our best players.”
Watch highlights from The FA Cup semi-final between Reading and Arsenal above.
