Pep Guardiola hailed Manchester City teenager Rico Lewis after he became the club’s youngest player to score on his first Champions League start in Wednesday’s 3-1 win over Sevilla.
Youngest scorers ever on first #UCL start:
🏴 Rico Lewis: 17 years and 346 days
🇫🇷 Karim Benzema: 17 years 352 days pic.twitter.com/vpXbn2Bl0u— UEFA Champions League (@ChampionsLeague) November 2, 2022
Delighted Guardiola said: “He got a standing ovation and I’m really happy for him. “What a goal, he’s a fantastic player. He’s so intelligent.
“He understands everything. He made a fantastic goal, high past the goalkeeper, and played really well.
“We have a young squad, we have some older players but it’s a young squad. Julian is young but top-class, and Rico, and of course, Sergio [Gomez].
“They played in the Champions League against Sevilla, an experienced team, and for prestige, money, everything, it was important.”
We don’t give presents here, not because he’s a City fan or from the academy – he’s had to earn it. “We’ve seen it since the day he played a few minutes against Bayern Munich in pre-season. All the good players felt he had something special.
“The guys who want to stay and fight will have a chance. If they’re not patient and listen to agents, they can leave.
“But you saw the reaction from the crowd, how they feel about having people from the academy playing for us.
“Sometimes you think we’ll have to buy full-backs, but when we can give someone from the academy a chance, it’s a dream come true.”
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City, already confirmed as Group G winners, might be matched with Bruges, Inter Milan, AC Milan, RB Leipzig, Eintracht Frankfurt, or Paris St Germain in the last 16 draw on Monday.
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