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Foden’s strike keeps City on course after surviving early scare

Borussia Dortmund 1 Manchester City 2 (Man City win 4-2 on agg)

Phil Foden celebrates his winning goal Expand

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Phil Foden celebrates his winning goal

Phil Foden celebrates his winning goal

Phil Foden celebrates his winning goal

James Ducker

A kid from Stourbridge again enhanced his burgeoning reputation but once again it was a lad from Stockport who upstaged him and proved Borussia Dortmund’s tormentor. When Phil Foden fired home an unstoppable drive 15 minutes from time to down Dortmund for the second time in a week, Pep Guardiola’s reaction said it all.

The quarter-finals of the Champions League have brought City and their manager more heartbreak than they care to remember in recent seasons. But there was no danger of another crushing disappointment when Foden scored and celebrated by thrusting himself into the arms of an emotional Guardiola.

Dortmund’s Jude Bellingham, another bright young English player, had opened the scoring and raised fears of City suffering a fourth successive last-eight exit.

But Riyad Mahrez drew City level with a penalty early in the second half, a goal in itself that would have been enough to secure City’s passage to the semi-finals against Paris St Germain. But given City’s history in this competition, it was not until Foden collecting a pass from Bernardo Silva after a short corner and thundered home a stunning finish that Guardiola could rest easily.

City have seldom reacted well to setbacks at this stage of the competition and it was always going to be interesting to see how they responded to Bellingham’s superb strike after just 15 minutes. Guardiola’s heart must have been in his mouth when, a few minutes later, Manuel Akanji directed a free header from a corner from close range at Ederson.

So this quickly became a test of City’s resolve and composure. Could they bounce back? Kevin De Bruyne probably thought he had produced an answer, only for a fierce drive from the edge of the penalty area to cannon back off the crossbar. Soon after that, Dortmund were indebted to Bellingham for clearing a goalbound shot from Mahrez off the line after excellent work from Foden.

Bellingham punched the air in delight – scorer one moment, saviour the next. There is something almost unnerving about a 17-year-old showcasing this kind of maturity and the case for him going to the European Championship with England is becoming increasingly persuasive. He looks at home in pressure situations. His touch, movement and finish for the goal were exemplary, less so the defending from John Stones that contributed to it.

The City defender had got on the wrong side of Erling Haaland as Emre Can fired a ball over the top for the Dortmund striker to chase. Haaland got to it first at the left byline, shrugged off Stones and laid the ball off for Mahmoud Dahoud, whose shot deflected off Ruben Dias into the path of Bellingham. He killed the ball dead with his left foot then shifted his weight quickly to his right, pushing the ball sideways and creating space to sweep a fine finish into the top corner that Ederson, at full stretch, could not keep out.

Champions League quarter-finals involving City have invariably invited bouts of head-scratching over Guardiola’s tactics and selections.

This time, there were no surprises, with even Raheem Sterling’s omission and the absence of a recognised striker expected, but any comfort City fans took from the line-up might still have been tested as their side went into the interval behind. Guardiola resisted any temptation to make changes, though, and got his reward for patience 10 minutes after the restart when Mahrez scored a penalty.

Foden had been leading the response and it was from his cross that Can handled as he went to head the ball with his left arm stretched out wide. Still, it took the Var long enough to review the incident, during which time a vexed Guardiola was busy pacing up and down the touchline.

Even when referee Carlos del Cerro Grande’s decision was upheld, though, Guardiola will not have been resting easily. City have had too much misfortune from the penalty spot, including Sergio Aguero’s miss in the first leg of the 2019 quarter-final defeat to Tottenham. When Mahrez stepped up, City fans will have struggled to suppress memories of the Algerian shooting over the crossbar against Liverpool, but this time he made no mistake.

City were back in the driving seat and, while there was a momentary panic when Mats Hummels headed Marco Reus’s free-kick over, the runaway Premier League leaders were impressive in the second half.

Dortmund had put so much into the first hour but they were beginning to tire and City simply pressed their foot down on the accelerator and, from a corner, Foden scored. Once again, England’s brightest young talent was Dortmund’s nemesis. 

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