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Phil Foden (left)
Photo:
Tim Keeton / dpa
After his coronation, Phil Foden began to plow again.
In the third minute of stoppage time, the game had long been decided, he chased his opponent into his own penalty area and captured the ball. Then he hobbled back into his position towards the attack by Manchester City.
Those 90 minutes from Anfield had been long.
But they were also the biggest appearance in Foden's young career so far.
City won the top game in the Premier League at Liverpool FC 4: 1.
Leaders Manchester are ten points ahead of the defending champions, and City has one more game up their sleeves.
The game wrote spectacular stories.
Ilkay Gündogan, who first missed a penalty, then scored twice;
Raheem Sterling, who couldn't be stopped with his dribbles;
Liverpool goalkeeper Alisson, who made two decisive mistakes.
You will all remember the game.
For Foden, however, it was 4: 1, to which he contributed two assists and one goal, even more.
Perhaps, if you remember later, this game will be seen as Foden's breakthrough on the way to a world career.
Foden, 20, once moved to Manchester City Youth Academy when he was eight.
The sports portal “The Athletic” describes how those responsible at the club compared him to the young Lionel Messi.
In 2019, head coach Pep Guardiola called him "the most talented player I have seen in my coaching career."
Foden has everything to become one of the world's best footballers.
Guardiola had once also trained Messi at FC Barcelona.
Only: the same Guardiola had only used his talent sporadically until then.
Between all the stars in the city offensive, there was hardly any space for a teenager.
The subject had often been in the English media.
Was there another top talent threatening to miss the breakthrough in Manchester?
Like Jadon Sancho, now in Dortmund, or Brahim Díaz, currently on loan from Real Madrid to Milan?
Foden succeeds in what Guardiola did not achieve for a long time
“His only problem,” Guardiola said of Foden at the time, “is that his coach does not set him up from the start.
But maybe that will change in the future. "
Today Foden is mostly a regular in Manchester.
While he was in the starting line-up nine times in 38 league games last season, he started 11 times in 22 games this season.
In the past eight games he has been in the starting lineup six times.
Foden is in the process of accomplishing something that no homebrewer has managed for a long time: To debut under Guardiola - and to assert himself.
Foden is a player to Guardiola's taste.
He can fill different positions, against Liverpool alone there were three: He started as the sole striker who repeatedly dropped into midfield to create an outnumbered.
After the break he got a partner in the offensive center, at least in pressing.
And later he switched to the right wing.
What distinguishes him in addition to his game intelligence, the technique, his pace, the courage to go into difficult dribbles and enormous perception, all of this could be seen in the City goals against Liverpool.
The 1-0 he initiated himself with a pass to the left wing to Sterling, then he got the ball back after his dribbling;
he had less than a second in the penalty area.
Foden let the pass hit his left instep so that the ball came to rest in front of him.
Then he shot flat on goal with his left hand.
Alisson was just able to parry the shot, Gündogan used the ricochet (49th).
At 2-1 he intercepted an Alisson pass about 25 meters from goal and dribbled past Liverpool captain Jordan Henderson.
Immediately before his assist, Foden found himself surrounded by five Liverpoolers.
How calm Foden remained at that moment, that he raised his eyes to see the confusing situation, and how clearly he realized the only promising option, namely a pass between goalkeeper Alisson and defender Fabinho to Gündogan, all of which shows how unusually mature he is (74th).
At 4: 1, while waiting on the outside right, he accepted a flying ball with his outer instep, Foden immediately accelerated and went one-on-one.
Then: a hook inside.
A hard shot under the crossbar.
Goalkeeper Ederson came running up from the other side of the field, he too wanted to congratulate Foden on this goal.
Jürgen Klopp said that City's fourth goal was “brilliant”.
Ex-Oasis singer and City fan Liam Gallagher tweeted "Foden is God" and Foden replied, "Thank you, LG".
It is very likely an exaggeration to give him the status of football god, but at least at 20 he is a lot closer to heaven.
Later on Sunday evening, Foden tweeted something else.
There were two photos.
The first shows the former city professional Stevan Jovetic, who played in Manchester between 2013 and 2015, and behind him, sitting outside the field: little Phil, apparently as a ball boy.
The second photo is from Sunday, it shows Foden shooting to make it 4-1.
He wrote: How it started.
How it's going. ”How it began.
How it is going.
Where is this supposed to end?
Foden alone decides.
Guardiola was right about one thing: The football world is open to him.
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