Pep Guardiola hails Manchester City star Phil Foden and ‘fantastic’ Jude Bellingham after Champions League win

George Flood15 April 2021

Pep Guardiola has lavised praise upon Phil Foden and Jude Bellingham after Manchester City’s Champions League quarter-final victory over Borussia Dortmund.

Both young England forwards played a big part in the tie, with Foden, 20, scoring key, excellent goals to ensure his side’s progress, notching winners in both legs as the runaway Premier League leaders reached the last four of Europe’s elite club competition for only the second time courtesy of a 4-2 aggregate triumph.

Bellingham also caught the eye once again, with his 15th-minute strike at Signal Iduna Park on Wednesday night initially putting Dortmund back in the driving seat and inspiring more awe and disbelief that a 17-year-old could be capable of making a huge impact on such a massive stage.

As well as leading to England fans imploring Gareth Southgate to make both players a big part of his plans for this summer’s rescheduled European Championship, the respective displays of Foden and Bellingham also attracted kind words from Guardiola, whose dominant team remain on track for a quadruple of major trophies this term ahead of Saturday’s FA Cup semi-final against Chelsea at Wembley and Carabao Cup Final clash with Tottenham on April 25.

"You have the feeling that he is a guy who never hides," said Guardiola of Foden. "He always creates something. He is dynamic offensively, defensively with quality in the smaller spaces.

Jude Bellingham and Phil Foden both impressed in the Champions League quarter-finals
Friedemann Vogel - Pool/Getty Images

"He is learning right now not to take just one touch. He is able to make more touches when making decisions.

"He scored two important goals. The second goal in the Etihad and now helped us to be in the semi-final. We knew it from the beginning and how he grew up.

"In the quarter-final of the Champions League, he was the important player to go through to play against PSG."

Asked about former Birmingham City star Bellingham, Guardiola said: “I cannot believe it, maybe he's a liar! He's so good for 17-years-old, he's a fantastic player.

"There was one moment when he didn't get the ball from central defenders, how he shouts and demands that ball to him at 17 means a lot.

"I spoke with his manager, Edin [Terzic], and he told me what you see in these two games is like every training session."

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