Phil Foden ran the show in City's Champions League win over AEK Athens, and the question now is whether he can be their go-to threat when Haaland is out.
Manchester City did not miss a beat in Europe, and Phil Foden was the reason. With Erling Haaland absent, the England man took the spotlight in the Champions League win over AEK Athens and delivered a man-of-the-match performance that reminded everyone how much he can shape a game.
Foden has always had the tools: tight control, sharp vision, quick feet and the nerve to try the unexpected in tight spaces. What stood out against AEK was how often he found pockets of space and kept City's attack moving, dragging defenders out of position and creating chances for himself and his teammates.
That matters because City's attack has leaned heavily on Haaland's finishing. When a striker that prolific is missing, the pressure to find goals has to be spread around. Foden is one of the few players in the squad with the quality to take on a bigger scoring load, whether he starts wide, drifts inside or plays closer to the front line.
It would be too much to hang the whole campaign on one display, and Haaland's record means he can't truly be replaced. But Foden showed that City have another way to hurt teams. If he keeps playing with this authority, Pep Guardiola has an answer for the games when his main man is not on the pitch.
