Phil Foden Joins Lionel Messi & Erling Haaland in Elite List After Scoring a Brace vs Brighton for Manchester City

The Premier League midweek action takes center stage as Brighton vs Manchester City is currently underway. Pep Guardiola and Co. have already made themselves quite comfortable at Falmer Stadium as they are 0-3 up within the first half, courtesy of Kevin De Bruyne‘s opener and a brace from Phil Foden. In fact, this is no ordinary brace from Foden as it brings him an elite list alongside Lionel Messi and Erling Haaland. 

The double trouble seems to be a lucky charm for the youngster as these two strikes contributed to his 50th Premier League goal. While this is quite a remarkable milestone for the England international, a stat reported by OptaJoe on X reveals that Foden also becomes the only third player to score 50 top-flight goals under Pep Guardiola while aged 23 or younger, after Messi and Haaland. 

Notably, his Norwegian teammate had achieved this similar feat in a unique fashion. Aside from scoring 50 PL goals under the former Bayern Munich coach, Haaland also became the fastest player to notch them. He achieved this feat back in November 2023, during his 48th appearance against formidable rivals Liverpool, breaking the overall record. Meanwhile, Messi clinched this feat during Guardiola’s second spell at Barcelona in the 2009/10 season. 

Either way, this is quite a significant achievement for Foden. It comes as more of a surprise to see that he is the third player to clinch this feat, given that the likes of Sergio Aguero, Riyadh Mahrez, and Rahim Sterling also played under Guardiola. In fact, there is yet another record that the City Academy product can try to get his name in. 

Phil Foden can also surpass Cristiano Ronaldo and two Chelsea legends 

Having scored two goals already, adding another to take home the match ball would help Phil Foden claim another record. Currently, with three hatricks in the Premier League, he is at with Cristiano Ronaldo, Frank Lampard, and Didier Drogba. Should he manage to find the net for the third time in the ongoing match against Brighton, then he can successfully overtake the Manchester United legend as well as the iconic Chelsea duo. 

Interestingly, his club’s iconic striker Sergio Aguero tops the chart with 12 record hattricks. Moreover, Foden totaling four hattricks would also get him to equal the record of Liverpool star Mohamed Salah. Certainly, given the form he is in, we reckon the midfielder won’t take much time to further extend his record. Nevertheless, for now, let’s see if he is able to achieve more wonders in the ongoing match against Brighton.