Foden thrilled after clinical AEK Athens display

Phil Foden expressed his elation after scoring a treble in our 5-1 UEFA Champions League victory over AEK Athens and expressed his hunger for even more goals.

Elliot Anderson poked us ahead with his first goal for the Club before Foden rifled in a second shortly after the half-hour mark in our 150th fixture in the prestigious competition.

Stavros Pilios pulled one back for AEK Athens seven minutes after the interval before Foden's pass found Rayan Cherki to slot into the bottom corner and give us some breathing space.

Foden then took centre stage again, firing into the top corner for his brace, before completing his hat-trick from close-range, making it four goals and one assist in four days for the Englishman.

"I enjoyed that a lot," began Foden in an interview after the game. "The lads were great again. We showed determination again, it wasn't pretty at times. We were giving sloppy passes away.

"But, we stuck at the game plan and we kept going and in the end we broke them down. Overall I'm delighted. [My favourite goal is] probably the second to be honest. The way it went in.

"I'm delighted to score goals now, I'm a forward so I have to keep scoring and helping the team. It'll only do good for my confidence.

"Slowly but surely [getting back to my best], still got a long way to go. I'm going in the right direction. Scoring along the way definitely helps.

I've just got to keep working hard and try to be as best as I can for the manager and for the team. Especially when I changed into the false 9 role, I really enjoyed it a lot. In between the lines and in the pockets where I like to be and linking the play. I really enjoyed that role tonight."

The victory saw five debutants for City in the Champions League, with Floyd Samba, Allan, Ryan McAidoo, Vitor Reis and Kaden Braithwaite all getting their first taste of European football.

Foden believes they all deserved their chance and confirmed he's passing on all of his knowledge to the youngsters in the squad.

"Just trying to help them as best as I can, along with the captains, like Ruben and Erling," he continued. "Trying to help the young ones.

"It shows the trust the manager has. We've got a lot of injuries at the moment and he's not scared to use the young lads.

"They've been playing really well so they deserved to play tonight. I'm really happy for them."