”The worst I’ve seen us” – Phil Foden admits Man City were below best against Leipzig

Phil Foden felt Manchester City were at their worst before recovering from 2-0 down to secure top spot in their Champions League group with a 3-2 win over Leipzig.

Pep Guardiola’s side appeared to be well off the pace in the first half, and there were mistakes in defence as Lois Openda scored in the 13th and 33rd minutes to give the German team a 2-0 lead going into the tunnel at half-time.

Foden sparked the turnaround when he teed up Erling Haaland early in the second half for the strike that saw the Norwegian become the fastest player to reach 40 goals in the competition, in just 35 appearances.

The England forward added a sublime second himself before further great footwork presented Julian Alvarez with Man City’s third.

Speaking after the match, Foden acknowledged that Man City were far from their best, but he was pleased with the mentality that helped them to turn it around and take all three points.

He said: “It was a [game] of two sides. In the first half, it was the worst I’ve seen us, I think, but the courage that we have and the motivation that we have – we got it together at half-time. We came out and we played a lot better and changed the game.

“It’s important when things are not going right to change them, and the team’s great for that. The team’s got great mentality for that, and it’s so nice to see.

“We just needed that goal to get going, the fans were a lot louder after the first goal. Normally at the Etihad we’re flying and we only need one goal, so when the first one went in the motivation was there and we kept pushing and playing our football and it paid off.

“We’ve got a great record at the Etihad, and it only takes one goal to change things. It changed the full rhythm of the game.”

The England midfielder explained that manager Pep Guardiola was in part responsible for his goal after he carefully placed his effort.

“I’ve been rushing a few chances and smashing it. The manager is big on it: just stay calm in front of goal,” he added. “Sometimes you just have to take his advice, so I just passed it through the guy’s legs.”

Man City’s victory not only made certain of preferential seeding in the last 16 for a seventh successive season but extended their English record unbeaten run in European competition to 19 games.

Manager Guardiola was pleased with that achievement but admitted concern about the performance.

The Spaniard said: “If we talk about the qualification it is a great night. If we talk about the game, we could do better.

“Sloppy goals – in football you have to win duels and it was quite similar against Chelsea. We were solid and now we’ve had two warnings already.

“It’s the same up front. We’ve had chances and missed them.

“But maybe for the future it’s good to win not comfortably, to show we are able to make a comeback.

“When we scored early in the second half, 45 minutes was a long time for them. It was not easy because they defended really well and they were strong, but we are there.

“Now we have five days to recover for the game against Spurs.”