Phil Foden delivered a stunning second-half brace to lead Manchester City in a 3-1 comeback victory in the Manchester derby against rivals, Manchester United.
An unstoppable arrow into the top corner followed by a beautifully crafted finish, with 10 minutes to go, completed a City comeback which was sealed by Erling Haaland’s 18th Premier League goal of the season.
In the lead up to the game, many were debating more about how many Manchester City would score as opposed to if they would lose?
Jamie Carragher even said, “It is impossible for City to play this game and not score at least three goals,” United decided to take on their own Mission Impossible.
With Andre Onana’s direct arrows up field, United had a legitimate counter attack threat to the unstoppable champions.
In the eighth minute, he aimed long to Bruno Fernandes who gathered the ball in brilliantly and awaited support. He laid the ball back and Marcus Rashford reminded everyone of his class with an incredible strike in off the underside of the crossbar.
Twice more in the first half, Rashford found himself with guilt edged opportunities to let fly again, but his touch evaded him. United had found a route to success, silencing everyone who wrote them off.
Manchester City had fallen behind for the 12th time in the Premier League this season, only once have they exceeded this under Pep Guardiola [13 times in 2019/20], when they failed to win the title.
Their recent draw with Chelsea gave rivals hope they might not be the invincible juggernaut that made history last year, becoming only the second English club to complete the treble.
But when Erling Haaland inexplicably lifted the ball over the United goal from barely three yards out, those hopes were starting to turn into reality.
City and Haaland have had a stop-start season, despite that the Norwegian is still the league’s leading scorer which shows the levels he’s set himself.
However, what has been evident this season is Pep has an armoury of attacking superstars that can step up when needed, Phil Foden did just that. Cutting in off the right flank, from the edge of the box he found the same top corner Rashford did with exquisite style, in the 56th minute.
With Gareth Southgate watching on, both played like they wanted to prove why they should be key men at Euro 2024 in Germany.
Liverpool and Arsenal fans will have been watching on cheering on the red of United to take points off the team everyone’s trying to beat. The game was on a knife-edge, Ederson made a fantastic tackle to stop Alejandro Garnacho going for goal, whilst City continued to try suffocate United into submission in their attempts to find the net.
But, as has happened many times this season, when City need a moment of magic Foden delivers. With 10 minutes to play, Foden played a delightful one-two with Julian Alvarez and guided the ball past the despairing hand of Andre Onana.
Many have been looking at the 23-year-old for years and wondering when is he going to become City’s main man, is Southgate finally going to trust in Foden for England?
28 goal contributions in 40 games, including a hat-trick at Brentford and goals home and away against United. This season has been Phil Foden’s coming of age of season.
Haaland did end up getting his goal in stoppage time after Rodri dispossed Sofyan Amrabat, but this derby was about one man, Phil Foden.
As De Bruyne and Haaland have done for Guardiola’s City, this season could be Foden’s time to be the catalyst in their quest to make history once again.
