Pep Guardiola congratulated Fernandinho on his good performance as a right-back in an emergency against Real Madrid pilot Vinicius Jr. The veteran midfielder came on as a substitute when John Stones, who had great doubts about the match, pulled out with an injury after 36 minutes.
This meant that the Brazilian international was asked to play right back for the second time in the colors of City, after playing this role against Swansea in 2017 – when he was also asked to be left back in the next game against Bournemouth. Fernandinho had a good game, especially ahead, although he failed to cut a pass from which Vinicius races to make it 3-2.
On the other hand, Fernandinho’s interception and quality centering put Phil Foden in third place for City and he sent Riyadh Marez clean for another great chance that the Algerian national team sent against the crossbar. Fernandinho defended himself after his mistake and was praised by Guardiola, who also thanked the Stones for the game, although he was not fully fit.
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The center-back seems to have missed City’s training session the day before the match, although there are rumors that he has joined the rest of the team after the media, which was allowed to film the first 15 minutes, left. But after feeling his thigh against Brighton last week and missing out on a weekend win over Watford, the Stones were struggling at times and needed to be replaced.
Guardiola said: “Just say thank you to both John for your efforts and Ferna, who has only played there once, in (my) second season as a right-back. It is not easy to control Vinicius, he is an exceptional player, but he did everything. I knew he would play well. “
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