Phil Foden helped Manchester City to a comprehensive 4-1 victory over Borussia Dortmund in the Champions League, making England manager Thomas Tuchel timely aware of his talent.
Erling Haaland’s outstanding form has been the talk of the town in the run-up to the clash with his former club, but it was Foden who made headlines on Friday ahead of Tuchel naming his next England squad as City progressed into the top eight in the Champions League.
The 25-year-old firmly strengthened his case for an England recall with two beautiful finishes either side of Haaland’s further goal to ensure he makes his mark in next week’s final World Cup qualifier against Serbia and Albania.
“Foden is back to his best.”
Erling Haaland celebrates with Foden after scoring against his former club
Guardiola said Foden was back to his best and ready to spark City’s push for silverware.
Guardiola said: “Phil is back.” “How many times have I seen Phil score these kinds of goals? I really miss this from last season, but I think he will help us a lot this season.”
“When Phil is content with love and joy, there’s not much to say. He’s a special player, but we need goals from him and I hope today was the first step.”
Foden’s two finishes were sublime. He is back to his glorious best.
Former City defender Danny Mills
As usual, Haaland wasn’t completely lost, as he smashed Jeremy Doku’s cross into the net, taking his total goals tally for club and country this season to an astonishing 27 in 17 appearances, and his Champions League goals tally to 54 out of 52.
Dortmund briefly regained their lead at 3-1 when Valdemar Anton converted a cross from Julian Ryerson from a set piece, but City finished well and Rayan Cherki added a fourth goal in the second half, handing Dortmund their second loss of the season.
Guardiola said ahead of the game that the match against Dortmund was a big one in a bid to qualify for the knockout stages, and he hoped to secure a top-eight finish and avoid additional games in the play-off round.
Last season, their match against Real Madrid ended in the play-off round, but with the win, Guardiola’s team increased to 10 points after four games and are on track to advance to the knockout stages.
Guardiola: “A win puts us in a good position”
Manchester City manager Josep Guardiola told TNT Sports:
“For the first 10 to 15 minutes we didn’t know where we were, but after that it got better.
“We had 10 bad minutes and the 10 or 15 minutes after we conceded were not good because they pushed us with five, six, seven players up front. But once we got five from the back we arrived better and we were able to finish the game with a good goal.”
“Big respect to these players, we’re in a good position. If we can get one or two more wins we’ll probably be closer to the top eight.”
“If we play like that, City will be strong.”
Former Man City defender Danny Mills talks about our football feature:
“Foden’s two finishes were sublime. He was back to his brilliant best.
“It was a very professional performance from Manchester City.
“If they can continue this trend and get Rodri back into the team, they will be a force.
“There are still one or two areas of weakness, but it was a confidence display from Guardiola’s team.”
Match story in statistics
City’s home form continues…
Man City are currently undefeated in their last 23 matches in the home group stage/league phase of the UEFA Champions League (D3), with 20 wins and no defeats, with 16 of those wins coming by a difference of two goals or more.
City have won 11 of their last 12 games in all competitions (L1) at the Etihad Stadium, including their last six wins, all by two or more goals, their longest home win since May 2023 (nine matches) with all home wins by two goals or more.
City, with an average age of 25 years and 53 days, have named their youngest Champions League starter (24 years, 358 days) since they played away to FC Porto in December 2020.
Borussia Dortmund have now lost seven of their eight away matches in the UEFA Champions League to English Premier League clubs, conceding at least two goals in all seven of them.
