Phil Foden smile and Pep Guardiola fury send the same Man City message

Manchester City picked up an impressive Champions League win over Dortmund to continue their recent momentum

Manchester City's season was going up in smoke on Bonfire Night last year, embarrassed 4-1 at Sporting in the Champions League at the beginning of a miserable run of results. Twelve months on, they could be ready to burn bright again.

Of course there was the Erling Haaland goal, the No.9 turning in his 18th of the season after half an hour from a Jeremy Doku cut back. More unusually though, Pep Guardiola's side were already on their way to a convincing win over Dortmund that further banishes memories of their wretched run.

The opener had come from Phil Foden, stroked home from outside the box with the confidence and nonchalance that he was doing when he was taking City to a fourth consecutive league title as the best player in England two seasons ago. Physical and mental burnout wrecked that high last year, but the 25-year-old has been smouldering for weeks in a tweaked role as City's dynamo.

Almost as significant as the textbook goal was the celebration, with Foden running to celebrate with the crowd with one delighted fan even snapping a selfie with him. The smile is back, and that will only make City - and England, should Thomas Tuchel not be daft enough to keep him out in the cold - happy.

Seven minutes separated Foden and Haaland's efforts, and City could have had two more in a commanding middle of the first half. Nico O'Reilly forced a good save from Gregor Kobel after an excellent Haaland run with the ball before Tijjani Reijnders went close again.

City had overwhelmed and powered through Germany's third-best team just as they had done against Bournemouth on Sunday to leapfrog the Cherries into second in the Premier League, and this time they were even stronger at the start of the second half. More one-way traffic ensued before Foden scored another belter to definitively kill the contest.

There was still time for Guardiola to fume when a miscommunication with Jeremy Doku allowed Waldemar Anton to sweep home a Dortmund free-kick with 20 minutes to go. Unlike last November, however, there would be no repeat of the City collapses that Sporting and Feyenoord took full advantage of.

It still feels like Guardiola's side are missing a statement win to prove to everybody that they can be contenders again and put the misery of last season behind them. Bournemouth and United don't really count for different reasons and Champions League group games are the same even if City have already beaten the Italian champions in this campaign.

There was still room for improvement against Dortmund, but there was also a swagger about City - led by the irresistible Foden - that marked them out as European heavyweights punching down on a team that have actually gone further than them in the last two Champions Leagues. This was the most confident they have looked in the competition in over a year.

Ten points from four games puts them on course not only for qualification but for a top-eight finish in this group phase, with them currently sitting in fourth alongside 2023 and 2025 finalists Inter. A home win over Leverkusen later this month can nudge them closer to that particular finish line with three games left to play.

Before then though, they can head into Sunday's game with Liverpool with growing confidence of a victory that would make everyone take notice. With Haaland unstoppable and Foden lighting up the midfield, City are beginning to sparkle.

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