Manchester City got back to winning ways in the Champions League on Wednesday night, beating RB Leipzig 3-1 with two late winners and while praise will obviously be heaped on the goalscorers, manager Pep Guardiola focused more on one man in his post-match press conference: Rico Lewis.
Lewis is still only 18 years old but is already starting to become a more regular first-team player for Pep at fullback and after assisting another lad in Phil Foden for the opener against the German side, his coach had nothing but glowing words for his performance.
Answering media questions after the hard-fought victory, when asked about the Bury-born defender’s display, Guardiola simply began “What a player, what a player. 18 years old.
“I have been a manager for 14, 15 years, training unbelievable players. To find a player like him playing in the pockets, how he has to move in holding midfield, full-back coming inside moving in the spaces – he is one of the best I ever trained by far.”
"He didn't play much but he's going to play a lot"
Manchester City boss Pep Guardiola hailed Rico Lewis as one of the best young players he's ever coached, after their 3-1 win at Leipzig.#ManCity#MCFC#bbcfootball
Pep says Rico Lewis is up there with the best has ever trained.
“He is a humble guy, doesn’t talk much”, added Pep but insisted that he “has the appreciation of all his mates.”
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“He didn’t play much this season [still managed six appearances in less than a dozen games into the season]… last season he was a key point and helped us understand what we should do in our build-up. Today was proof again… he hasn’t played as much [yet] but he is going to play a lot.”
The Catalan coach went on to say that “his composure from day one is always surprising” detailing how assistant coach Carlos Vicens suggested bringing him because he can play on either flank.
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“Then he played against Bayern Munich at right-back and I thought this guy is good!”, continued the 52-year-old, explaining how Lewis then began training with the first team and suddenly realised, “Oh, this guy is good!”. Speaking to a TNT Sport reporter after full-time on, he had a similarly amazing reaction:
"Everyone was perfect!" 👌
Manchester City boss Pep Guardiola was in a great mood after securing all three points at RB Leipzig… with some hilarious praise for Rico Lewis 😅#UCL | @archiert1pic.twitter.com/v8EI5rjwWM
While he may have joked that the academy product might not be the most physical of players when it comes to his stature just yet, he reiterated that he is an “amazing, outstanding player” and to stumble across a player that moves so well in the middle whilst still be so good at defending is “difficult to find”.
Adding that he can also “play in four or five different positions” and is “not scared” on the pitch, he summed things up by saying the youngster pretty much “has everything”. High praise indeed.
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Although the City boss himself held his hands up for possibly overexaggerating in his similarly hyping up new signing Matheus Nunes’ ability last month, Pep insisted that Lewis “deserves all the praise from ourselves and the media”.
You can watch the highlights of City’s 3-1 win over RB Leipzig below:
Featured Image — Manchester City/Rico Lewis (via Instagram)
Sport
Details released of Andy Burnham’s meetings with Manchester City owners while Mayor
Emily Sergeant
Details of Andy Burnham’s meetings with Manchester City owners during his tenure as Mayor of Greater Manchester have been released.
In case you need bringing up to speed on the situation a little first, Manchester City was found guilty back in September all of its charges related to the Premier League’s financial rules over a nine-season period, and on top of that, was also found guilty of the majority of charges in relation to its failure to co-operate with the League’s investigation.
According to the Premier League, the independent Commission found that Manchester City had arranged so-called ‘sham’ commercial deals with a number of its sponsors.
These were part of a disguised funding scheme – with those sponsors only required to pay a portion of the relevant sponsorship fees.
The remainder was then funded by Abu Dhabi United Group Investment & Development Ltd (ADUG), which owned the club.
The Commission also concluded, as quoted by the Premier League, that the club had ‘made concerted efforts to stop and frustrate the Premier League investigation’.
Within the past week or so, it has since come to light that now-Prime Minister Andy Burnham had dealings with Manchester City during his tenure as Greater Manchester Mayor, and Greater Manchester Combined Authority (GMCA) has now issued a public statement, giving details on the matter and what these ‘dealings’ entailed.
A spokesperson for GMCA confirmed that Burnham had a ‘formal meeting’ with Man City Chairman, Khaldoon Al Mubarak, back in October 2021.
The statement reads in full: “In October 2021, Andy Burnham, in his role as Mayor of Greater Manchester, had a formal meeting with Khaldoon Al Mubarak at the UK Government’s Global Investment Summit arranged by the Department for International Trade.
“In his capacity as Mayor, he was a guest of Manchester City FC at home matches on a small number of occasions, including attending Vincent Kompany’s testimonial match in September 2019, where he met the Chairman informally in the stands. These have been declared in the usual way.
“Also during his time as Mayor, representatives of Greater Manchester sporting clubs would routinely join business delegations as part of Mayoral international visits.
“This included representatives from Manchester United travelling to Austin and Dublin, Lancashire Cricket Club joining a delegation to India, and Manchester City FC staff supporting visits to China and Japan.”
Featured Image – Lauren Hurley / Number 10 Downing Street (Press Image via Flickr)
Sport
Multiple arrests made for ‘tragedy chanting’ and police officer assault as Man City defeated Liverpool
Emily Sergeant
Multiple people were arrested over the weekend as Manchester City defeated Liverpool in a Premier League clash.
Merseyside Police have confirmed that a total of 10 people were arrested during the policing operation at Liverpool’s home ground of Anfield as they hosted Manchester City on Sunday 11 October.
One man was arrested on suspicion of assaulting a police constable, five were on suspicion of tragedy chanting, one on suspicion of being drunk and disorderly, two for affray, and one on suspicion of throwing items onto the pitch.
Police are now appealing to the public, and are particularly looking to speak to witnesses of the assault of the officer.
At around 6:35pm, as fans left the stadium, a police officer sustained a ‘serious facial injury’ during the arrest of a man on Anfield Road, and was subsequently taken to hospital for treatment but is now recovering at home.
Investigating officers are now conducting enquiries, speaking to witnesses, and analysing CCTV and camera phone footage.
Chief Inspector Leanne Hobin said it’s ‘extremely disappointing’ that an officer has sustained a serious injury while carrying out their duty.
“I hope the arrests send a clear message and act as a deterrent to others,” Chief Inspector Hobin continued. “Anyone who engages in this abhorrent behaviour risks ending up in custody and getting a criminal record.
“Despite the actions of a few, the overwhelming majority of the 60,000 fans in attendance behaved well and I want to thank them for their co-operation.”
Manchester City ended up defeated Liverpool 3-0 during the Premier League clash at Anfield.
Danny Jones -
5th October 2023 
