Rodri’s goal in Istanbul to win the Champions League final sparked bedlam inside the stadium.
Jack Grealish and Nathan Ake were among the first to catch up with the midfielder as he celebrated wildly in front of 20,000 ecstatic Manchester City fans, while Rico Lewis was mobbed by Cole Palmer and his fellow substitutes as they stood on the touchline. After over an hour of nerve-shredding action, here was the release.
After City survived another 25 minutes of drama to see out the victory, the goal was replayed endlessly by supporters in the hours, days and weeks that followed. And once you have spotted Phil Foden walking away from the celebrations, it is hard to un-see it.
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Foden has his arms up inside the six-yard box appealing for a penalty as Bernardo Silva’s cutback deflects off the body of Francesco Acerbi and then as the ball flies past him and Erling Haaland embraces the onrushing Rodri and Silva turns the other way in celebration with John Stones, Foden is on his own with his back to goal. The midfielder, on for the injured Kevin De Bruyne in that final, calmly heads back to his half to wait for the game to restart.
The Blueprint, a new book charting City’s rise to the top of world football, sees Foden open up on the mood in the squad in the final few weeks of the season as they moved from an exhillarating Premier League title win with Arsenal to history with the FA Cup Final against United and then the Champions League. As part of that story, the Stockport playmaker spoke about what went through his head in that iconic moment – and how he made up for it afterwards.
“My brain just froze,” he said. “I was obviously delighted but I think it was just a mixture of emotions because I was really happy and relieved that we had scored an important goal, but I didn’t want to celebrate too much because I knew we hadn’t finished the job yet and that I needed to stay in the zone, focus and not show too much emotion.
“Each player is different but that was just how I reacted. I definitely celebrated at full-time once we got over the line! To be able to say that I have won the Champions League with my boyhood club means everything to me really. It was the trophy that we all wanted for so long, but it just never looked like it was going to happen in previous years.
“But something felt different during this season and I knew we had an unbelievable chance of finally winning it. To be able to lift that trophy in Istanbul in front of our fans was just incredible. I get goosebumps just thinking about it to be honest.”
The Blueprint: Inside Manchester City and the Guardiola Project by Simon Bajkowski is published by John Blake (available in hardback, eBook, Audiobook)
