Pep Guardiola has heaped reward on Manchester Metropolis wonderkid Rico Lewis and backed him to star for the membership over the following decade.
- Lewis starred towards Liverpool
- Scored towards Sevilla in UCL
- Guardiola ‘impressed’ with the teenager
WHAT HAPPENED? The teenage right-back was a standout performer within the Carabao Cup fourth spherical conflict with Liverpool on Thursday, with Metropolis sealing a 3-2 victory on the Etihad Stadium. Lewis had beforehand scored on his senior debut towards Sevilla within the Champions League. Lewis was handed a begin as each Kyle Walker and Joao Cancelo had simply returned from the World Cup. He proved his mettle to Guardiola and that prompted the Spanish supervisor to hail him as an “unimaginable participant”.
WHAT THEY SAID: “I’m completely actually impressed, for a younger age, how he performed towards an actual, actual senior workforce. It’s not about with-the-ball intelligence, it’s about with out the ball. We had the privilege to nearly announce that this man will take [have] a giant decade, can be a completely unimaginable participant for Manchester Metropolis within the subsequent years as a result of he’s so clever, so humble. He understands every thing in only one second and applies every thing,” Guardiola informed to reporters after the match.
“He all the time performs good, however not (simply) towards Liverpool. Liverpool are particular, with (Darwin) Nunez, (Mohamed) Salah, Thiago (Alcantara) and (Andy) Robertson on his aspect. He’s 18 years previous and the best way he performed was excellent. He was man of the match,” he added.
THE BIGGER PICTURE: Lewis is a Metropolis academy graduate and was promoted to the senior workforce in the summertime. He has made seven appearances underneath Guardiola to date and appears set to rack up extra minutes within the second half of the season. Furthermore, he’s the youngest participant in Champions League historical past to attain on his debut, breaking the file set by Karim Benzema in 2005. The Man Metropolis participant set the brand new file at 17 years and 346 days, whereas the 2022 Ballon d’Or winner was 17 years and 352 days when he scored for Lyon.
IN THREE PHOTOS:
Getty Photographs
Getty Photographs
WHAT NEXT FOR LEWIS? After a formidable show towards Liverpool, Lewis would hope that he’s given a begin towards Leeds United within the Premier League on December 29.