Manchester City manager Pep Guardiola has sang the praises of the club’s youngest breakout star Rico Lewis after the teenager had a dream debut in the Champions League for the Cityzens. The starlet has been with Manchester City since he was as young as 8 years olf and has grown into becoming one of the most exciting young players at the club having also impressed Guardiola enough to earn a debut in the Champions League. His full debut came in the City match against Sevilla, their last group stage fixture after already confirming their passage to the round of 16 in a brilliant group campaign.
Born in Bury, Lewis caught the hearts and attention of Manchester City fans after scoring what was the leveler against their Spanish opponents in the group stage match. City were 1-0 down and he thought it was the perfect time to stand to the occasion, and what a way to get a first goal for his club as well. His goal against Sevilla meant that he became the second youngest English player to score a Champions League goal (17 years and 346 days) after Jude Bellingham scored for Borussia Dortmund back in April 2021 aged 17 years and 289 days.
Lewis was replaced by Guardiola five minutes away from the end of the match, with Joao Cancelo coming on to replace the young English star. Fans reacted to the youngster’s brilliance by giving him a standing ovation and Guardiola didn’t hold back his praise for his latest shining star.
Speaking in a recent interview, Guardiola stated that Lewis earned his dream debut ecauze they do not give presents at the club, referring to performance-based call-ups from the academy team to the first team. Guardiola also added that the club’s academy is doing a great job and that Lewis is just another example of what’s to come from them in the future.