While Erling Haaland kept his impressive record of having more goals than games in the Champions League, it was another player’s performance that likely pleased Manchester City manager Pep Guardiola even more on Tuesday.
It’s hard to draw many stories from an easy 4-0 victory for City against the underdogs Slovan Bratislava, but Phil Foden’s showing in the Slovakian capital—featuring a goal, a brilliant assist, and more—was hard to overlook.
After helping England reach the European Championship final during the summer, the England forward has been gradually brought into this season by Guardiola.
This was just Foden’s second start in all competitions, despite being last season’s player of the year in English soccer. The world may soon see Foden at his best once again.
His finish for City’s second goal—a calm, low shot curling into the far corner from just inside the box—was a classic Foden move, similar to strikes he made frequently last season.
“It’s my signature, to be honest,” Foden said. “Get it out of my feet and find the far corner.”
Even better was his lifted pass over Slovan’s defense to fellow academy graduate James McAtee for the goal that completed the scoring on a comfortable evening for the English champions, who had drawn 0-0 with Inter Milan to kick off the new Champions League.
“Nice to score again but more importantly to enjoy my football,” Foden said. “Delighted with the result and how I played.
“I’ve had a very slow start to the season with a bit of illness and a bit of fatigue but I’m getting back into it now and feeling more like myself.”
