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Phil Foden (right) scores Manchester City’s third and winning goal against Leeds in yesterday’s

English Premier League match. – REUTERSPIC

Foden rescues City … as Leeds boss Farke accuses Donnarumma of faking injuries

P HIL FODEN spared Manchester City’s blushes after the Premier League title challengers blew a two-goal lead in a dramatic 3-2 victory over Leeds yesterday. Pep Guardiola’s side were in dan ger of losing more ground in the title race following a second-half collapse at the Etihad Stadium. Foden and Josko

the box. With the full-backs, wingers, it doesn’t matter and in the end it’s the quality of Phil.” City had made their worst start to a campaign for five years and their second-worst under Guardiola but they took just 59 sec onds to move in front as

in the 25th minute. Calvert-Lewin made an immedi ate impact after coming off the bench, reducing the deficit with a clinical finish after pouncing on Matheus Nunes’s woeful pass inside the City area in the 49th minute. Leeds equalised in the 68th min ute when Nmecha’s penalty – awarded for Gvardiol’s foul on Calvert-Lewin – was saved by Gianluigi Donnarumma before the forward recovered to score from the rebound. In stoppage-time, Foden cleverly made room in the area for an ice-cool finish as Guardiola breathed a sigh of relief. After the end of the game, Leeds United manager Daniel Farke accused Donnarumma of games manship to allow Guardiola to deliver a team-talk on the pitch during the second half . Farke believes goalkeepers have taken to going down and faking inju ries to bring a break in play and called on the authorities to change the rules. Unlike with outfield players, the game cannot continue while a goal keeper receives treatment, which can present a loophole for coaches to give additional in-game instructions. The German said

Guardiola from the blame. “Everyone knows why he went down. Why he went down was obvi ous,” Farke said. “It is within the rules. It is smart. If I like it, if it is in the sense of fair play, if it should be like this, I keep it to myself and I leave it to the authorities to find solutions for it. “It is within the rules. I asked the fourth official at this point if you want to do something and he said: ‘No, our hands are tied, we can’t do anything.’ “If we don’t educate our players in football, what to do in terms of fair play, sportsmanship, if you just try to bend the rules just to your advantage and you can do a fake injury in order to do an additional team talk, I think it is nothing what I personally like anyhow but if it is within the rules I can’t complain about it. “I think we should think about how we can deal with it and also how we educate.” The score was still 2-1 to City when Donnarumma called for medi cal attention with manager Guardiola quickly gathering his players around him as he attempted to adjust to a change of formation from Leeds. Guardiola insisted he had believed Donnarumma’s injury was genuine, instructing James Trafford to warm up in case he was required. “I didn’t speak with Gigio,” he said. “When it happened, I looked back to the dugout. I don’t know. Next press conference you can ask me and I will ask Gigio.” – AFP/The Independent

Gvardiol put City two up before the interval, but third-bottom Leeds hit back through Dominic Calvert-Lewin and Lukas Nmecha. Foden clinched a

Foden fired a close-range strike in off the bar. Leeds had no answer to City’s slick start and Josko Gvardiol looked to have put the hosts in complete con trol with a tap-in from Nico O’Reilly’s header

nerve-jangling victory that lifted City into sec ond place, four points behind leaders Arsenal, who travel to third-placed Chelsea overnight. It was a much-needed win after consecutive defeats against Newcastle theprevious weekend and Bayer Leverkusen on Tuesday. “It was a relief,” Guardiola said of Foden’s winner. “The game was not perfect in the first half but it should be over with the chances we had. “We didn’t concede and after that they damaged us with the system, like Leverkusen has done with a 5-3-2. “Football is emotions. We con ceded the second and after we made a step up. We reacted really well. “We had to put the ball quickly in

Phil Foden celebrates after scoring City’s winning goal. – REUTERSPIC

it was not “fair play” and said he disliked such behaviour, though he exonerated

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