Phil Foden sends clear message to Pep Guardiola with three moments of Man City genius

While there is no such thing as a guaranteed starting position in a Pep Guardiola side - unless your name is Ederson - Phil Foden will likely feel aggrieved not to have started Manchester City's Champions League tie on Tuesday.

The 21-year-old attacker had started 13 of City's 14 games in all competitions since January 15, yet when Atletico Madrid came to the Etihad for the first leg of a quarter-final tie he found himself on the bench.

With the game entering its final stages and City unable to find a way past a stubborn Atletico defence, Guardiola turned to Foden with just over 20 minutes to go. Within two minutes he set up Kevin de Bruyne's match-winning striker with a superb ball, handing the Blues the advantage going into the return fixture next week.

READ MORE: Pep Guardiola explains how Jack Grealish and Phil Foden changed Man City Champions League fortunes

Guardiola will be delighted with the impact his substitute made, but thanks to three moments of brilliance from Foden he will have a lot to think about ahead of the upcoming big games.

In the pocket

It took Foden less than two minutes to set up City's breakthrough goal, and what an assist it was. But before we get on to the quality of the pass, we need to admire Foden's positioning.

Foden replaced Riyad Mahrez on the right wing but, in this moment, with Joao Cancelo pushed high on the right flank, Foden moved further infield into the channel.

As shown below, Atletico were defending in two ridged lines comprised of five defenders with four midfielders in front of them. To bypass that, Foden intelligently took up a position in between the lines, finding a small pocket of space. Once he did that it caused panic in the Atletico defence.

As soon as Foden