Foden and De Bruyne Hit New Highs for Manchester City in Brighton Victory

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By Martin Graham | 21st Apr 2022

Manchester City midfielders Phil Foden and Kevin De Bruyne have hit new milestones in their 3-0 win over Brighton and Hove Albion.

Foden, once described by City boss Pep Guardiola as the most talented player he’s ever coached, reached a half century of starts under the Spaniard to become the youngest ever player to achieve this feat.

The 21-year-old beat out Barcelona midfield kingpin Sergio Busquets who achieved his feat at 22 years. Foden also became the youngest to get to 50 starts under any Manchester City boss in the history of the club since Joe Hart achieved it in 2009.

The attacking midfielder marked it with his fifth goal against Brighton, the team who have suffered the most at Foden’s hands. The England international scored the goal following a corner routine which was worked to him, before taking a shot which took a heavy deflection past Robert Sanchez in the Brighton post.

Foden now has 93 total Premier League games under Guardiola and has scored 23 goals and provided 11 assists to boot. He is also about to become a two-time Premier League champion if City keep the momentum and finish strong.

His senior midfield partner, De Bruyne, became the 39th player to hit a triple century of appearances for the club.

The Belgian has been at City for six seasons after arriving from German Bundesliga club VfL Wolfsburg in 2015. He has been a hugely influential figure in the club’s successes in that time, which have been rewarded with a few PFA player of the year awards.

He marked his 300th appearance with an assist for Bernardo Silva’s goal to take his Premier League goal involvements this season to 15 (11 goals and four assists) in 25 league games.

Meanwhile, Guardiola also got in on the act with his own record, winning his 250th game in charge of Man City.

The record was reached in 344 games at the helm of City, which also meant that he is the fastest manager to reach the milestone, beating Jose Mourinho’s previous record of 250 wins from 396 games.

Guardiola is on the verge of winning his fourth title in five seasons at the club, is focused on making sure that his team finishes strong and denies Liverpool the chance of a four trophy haul.

City are still in the running to win the UEFA Champions League and with their 3-0 win over Brighton, take a one point lead over Liverpool at the top of the Premier League table. The Spaniard admits that they have to win every single game going forward.

“The feeling today is that we are now mathematically going to play in the Champions League. People can say it is normal but it is not,” Guardiola said in his post match comments.

“You only have to look at the incredible teams fighting to get into the Champions League. Now for the Premier League, we are not stupid.

“If we drop just two points, Liverpool will be champions. If we win all games we will be champions. The players know it.

“We know the tough games we have and we must try to perform like today and win all the games. If we do that we will celebrate, if not we will congratulate Liverpool.”