Phil Foden has paid an emotional tribute to a 6-year-old Manchester City fan who died of an unexpected illness.
Milly-Rose Stirrup died last month after being rushed to hospital with a sudden illness. The club and their fans paid a touching tribute to her on Saturday during City’s first home game since her death.
With her image on the screen, the crowd rose to its feet in the sixth minute of their match against Newcastle United for a moving minute’s applause.
More was to come minutes later when Foden – Milly-Rose’s favourite player – opened the scoring dedicating the goal to her by kissing his hands and pointing to the sky.
After the game, Foden took to Twitter posting a message in memory of the girl who was a regular at the Etihad along with her mum and dad.
“That one was for you Milly-Rose,” he wrote.
Milly-Rose’s parents had previously told the Manchester Evening News what it would mean for her to be remembered at the Etihad.
“It would be massive to see her on the screen and for everyone to clap for her,” they said. “We are huge City fans and she was in love with Phil Foden.”
Phil Foden is back – but what’s up with Erling Haaland?! Winners & Losers as Man City sink Newcastle to pile pressure on Arsenal
The England international is well and truly over his post-World Cup struggles but his Norwegian team-mate is in a concerning slump…
Phil Foden inspired Manchester City to a 2-0 win over Newcastle which kept them on Arsenal’s coattails in the Premier League title race.
The England international went into the game after scoring three times in his last two appearances and continued on that rich vein of form with a beautiful solo goal to open the scoring.
Beyond the goal, Foden was everywhere, playing neat one-twos with Kevin De Bruyne and Erling Haaland and running Newcastle’s usually tight defence ragged.
City fans can rejoice. Their homegrown hero is not in decline, he was just resting himself for the business end of the season.
It was not a perfect performance from City, and they needed Bernardo Silva to come off the bench and score midway through the second half to settle them down after Newcastle had threatened to get back into the game.
City are determined to take the title race with Arsenal right to the wire, but Newcastle’s star is fading, and fast.
This was yet another defeat against a top team and Eddie Howe has some thinking to do if his side are to stay in contention for a Champions League spot.
GOAL breaks down the winners & losers from the Etihad Stadium…
Getty ImagesWINNER: Phil Foden
Rumours of the England forward’s demise have been greatly exaggerated.
The Stockport Iniesta is truly back to his best and opened up the game with a mesmeric run through the best defence in the league.
He was electric throughout and also linked up superbly with his team-mates.
He had been worryingly off-form since the World Cup but has now scored four goals in his last three matches.
GettyLOSER: Newcastle
The Magpies had a spectacular first half of the season but have definitely gone off the boil lately.
Since beating Southampton to book their place in the Carabao Cup final, they have failed to win any of their last five matches in all competitions.
When coming up against top opponents, they have been found out.
They looked nailed-on to make a long-awaited return to the Champions League but those hopes are fading fast and Liverpool and Fulham are on the tails, meaning they could even miss out on European football together.
GettyWINNER: Bernardo Silva
The midfielder had a bit of a point to prove after not getting on at Bournemouth last week and beginning today’s match on the bench.
He did just that, giving City the energy needed to stem Newcastle’s wave of attacks in a difficult spell for the hosts.
Immediately after coming on, Silva pressed Nick Pope, forcing the goalkeeper into a poor kick which led to a rapid City break.
Silva finished the move with a confident strike and the fans gleefully sang his name in gratitude.
It will be a lot harder for Guardiola to leave him out against Crystal Palace next week
GettyLOSER: Callum Wilson
Newcastle were definitely second best here but they will also wonder how differently things could have gone had they taken their chances.
Their best fell to Wilson, who was unmarked in the first half when the ball dropped perfectly for him in the area.
But he took his eye off the ball and completely missed it, watching in horror as it bobbled away towards the touchline.
He was unable to trouble City’s powerful defence for the rest of the match.
GettyWINNER: Nathan Ake
Many people were stunned by the news that Joao Cancelo was leaving City to join Bayern Munich on loan and while there were non-sporting reasons for his departure, it speaks of Ake’s quality that Guardiola did not mind letting the versatile Portuguese go.
Ake was so solid here and barely put a foot wrong. He does not offer the attacking quality that Cancelo does but City have plenty of players to prove that instead and Ake’s run in the team has led to the team looking far more assured at the back.
GettyLOSER: Erling Haaland
The Norwegian’s unbelievable strike rate (33 goals in 33 games) means he can get away with performances like this, but let’s not hide away from the fact that he was poor.
He struggled to get in good shooting positions and when he did get a sniff of goal, he did not manage to test Pope.
He has now failed to score in six of his last eight matches. Is that just a natural drop off from his incredible start, or the effect of Guardiola trying to get him to play deeper?
