Pep Guardiola praised Rico Lewis after Manchester City beat RB Leipzig in their Champions League campaign.
The English teen is just 18 years old. Last year he break through into the first team of Manchester City. Doing exceptional things in his natural right back position.
But that City Boss put him in the midfielde alongside his academy-met Phil foden.
City on the match 3-1 at Red Bull Arena as Julian Alvarez and Jeremy Doku netted the ball.
Pep hailed Rico Lewis
Pep Guardiola is happy with the performance Rico Lewis deployed on the field. In post match press conference Pep said:
“To find a player like him playing in the pockets, how he has to move in holding midfield, full-back coming inside moving in the spaces – he is one of the best I ever trained by far.“
“He didn’t play much this season. Last season he was a key point and helped us understand what we should do in our build-up. Today was proof again. This season he hasn’t played as much but he is going to play a lot.”
Though Lewis got less chances but he proved himself when he had the opportunity. The 18 year old only three start so far. Except this European clash he only started against Burnley and Newcastle in premier league.
Pep added: “When you play inside, you have to be 360 and you have passes coming from everywhere, that is the most difficult position to play. As a central defender, all you see is in front of you,”
“He is a big talent and to find that is not easy, to come from the Academy, he always trained so good.”
Even that day spaniard revealed: “His composure from day one is always surprising. I didn’t even consider bringing him on pre-season the previous one,”
“I’m very pleased for him. He deserves all the praise from ourselves and the media – he deserves it.”
Rico Lewis made his first impression on Guardiola during the 2022/23 pre-season after the City boss was consulting about his talents with assistant city boss Carlos Vicens.
He dropped a astonishing output against Bayern Munich in pre season. After that Pep selected him for first team.
