Phil Foden is Pep Guardiola’s best chance to top Liverpool following England return | OneFootball

When Phil Foden secured his first ever Champions League double against Borussia Dortmund on Wednesday evening, the immediate smile on his face said everything you need to know about the Manchester City star’s remarkable comeback story. 

As he received the ball from Tijjani Reijnders on the edge of the area, Foden – surrounded by three Dortmund players – controlled it, spun around and opened his body up to slot his second goal of the evening beyond Gregor Kobel before running to the corner flag, brandishing an ear-to-ear grin with his tongue out. 

For Pep Guardiola’s side, this victory was a supplement to the renaissance of his team who, at one point last season, won just one game in 13 across all competitions as they underwent their worst run of form in over 15 years.

But for Foden, this performance instilled hope amongst the City fans in a game where he looked back to his best; his recent form, too, has earned him his first England call-up from Thomas Tuchel after three consecutive absences from the squad.

The Stockport-born attacker – who has made 332 appearances for City, scoring 104 goals and assisting 64 times – opened up in May on his mental and physical struggles that limited his playing time throughout the 2024-25 campaign. 

“It’s been difficult,” the 24-year-old told various outlets, including The Guardian, in April. “I picked up an ankle injury against (Manchester) United and it took time to heal before I could push myself back to training.

“A lot of people don’t know what football players have to go through and play with. I’ve had a lot of ankle pain and played with it in the last couple of months. It’s been a frustrating season. I’ve had a lot of things going on off the pitch mentally.

“Sometimes there’s things in life bigger than football. This season I’ve (struggled) a little bit. Hopefully come next year I can get my head mentally right, get back where I left the season before because I know what I’m capable of doing and the quality I have.”

As a result of these struggles, Foden took a three-week break from football before returning to Guardiola’s army for the FIFA Club World Cup in the United States this summer where, in three appearances, the 25-year-old scored twice and picked up one assist. 

Yet, that vulnerability he displayed in May is precisely what makes his resurgence even more compelling. The player who stepped away to correct his confidence is now taking control for City and, in turn, generating performances that attract familiar success. 

A considerable improvement and shift in confidence started back in September, when Foden opened his account for the 2025-26 season against Manchester United before Erling Haaland secured two later goals in that 3-0 win at the Etihad Stadium.

His next contribution came against Napoli in the UEFA Champions League only four days later when he provided an assist for Haaland’s recording-breaking opener – which made the Norway international the quickest player to reach 50 goals in the competition. 

A goal and assist against Huddersfield Town in the Carabao Cup towards the end of September meant that Foden began to mirror the form he consistently showed that helped him secure the PFA Players’ Player of the Year award in Manchester City’s 2023-24 Premier League winning campaign.

The City academy graduate’s outstanding run of performances led to a brace against Dortmund on Wednesday in a win that has raised expectations of City ahead of Sunday’s six-pointer league clash against reigning champions Liverpool.

Aside from City’s unstoppable attacking setup that includes the likes of Haaland, Rayan Cherki and Jeremy Doku – three players who have made the biggest impact for the club this season so far – Foden could be the weapon that Guardiola uses to beat Arne Slot’s side.

Of course, Liverpool are a weakened force in contrast to last season’s successes in terms of results, despite spending over £446 million in the summer – but in the backdrop of an impressive win over Real Madrid in the UEFA Champions League on Tuesday and with an extra day of rest than Guardiola’s side – Slot’s group could present potentially fatal nuances.

And even though Liverpool are weakened by an injury to summer signing Jeremie Frimpong, Doku will still face the challenge of exploiting Conor Bradley’s short list of weaknesses as well as the physical prowess of Ibrahima Konate and Virgil van Dijk in defence.

Still, the option to attack centrally dispenses a plethora of options in the middle for Cherki, who has scored twice in three games, and Foden, to either slip Haaland through on goal or shoot from range.

The problem that teams have now when facing City is that they can’t just man-mark Haaland – who is, by some margin – the club’s highest goalscorer this season. Of late, the Norwegian striker has been the only output for goals for Guardiola’s side.

But that seems to be changing in the presence of Cherki and Foden, who both look rightly confident in front of goal and have gelled perfectly with the midfield of Nico Gonzalez and Reijnders.

Guardiola should play to his strengths so as to not expose City’s weaknesses and Foden, in the best form he has shown in the last 12 months, can be the difference between his boyhood club and the title holders on Sunday.