(Dan Tri) - Newcomer Abdukodir Khusanov was given a chance by coach Pep Guardiola but he had a disastrous debut and luckily the Etihad team still won against Chelsea.
"He doesn't speak English so I don't talk to him! He'll be fine," said coach Pep Guardiola after witnessing the disastrous debut of centre-back Abdukodir Khusanov in Man City's dramatic 3-1 win over Chelsea at Etihad Stadium in the early morning of January 26 (Vietnam time) in round 23 of the Premier League.
New signing Abdukodir Khusanov scored a free goal for Chelsea in the second minute of the match (Photo: Getty).
With several key defenders injured, Pep Guardiola gave a chance to new signing Abdukodir Khusanov, who Man City had signed from Lens in the January transfer window for £33.6m. However, the 20-year-old centre-back got off to a poor start, scoring a goal and receiving a yellow card after just six minutes.
Khusanov was still playing until the 52nd minute before being replaced by John Stones, receiving a hug from coach Pep Guardiola and his teammates. Fortunately, Josko Gvardiol, Erling Haaland and Phil Foden scored in turn to help Man City come from behind to defeat Chelsea, thereby rising to 4th place in the Premier League rankings after 23 rounds.
"Khusanov only had two training sessions. I don't want to use John Stones early when he is recovering from injury. I need John for Man City's important match in the Champions League on January 30.
Khusanov will learn from his mistakes. He understands what happened. How the players treat him is very important. Any player can make mistakes.
If you feel lonely afterwards, it's even more difficult. He's still very young. He'll learn from his mistakes," added coach Pep Guardiola about the debut of the Uzbek rookie.
Erling Haaland contributed to Man City's 3-1 victory over Chelsea (Photo: Getty).
The win over Chelsea also helped the Spanish strategist reduce the pressure ahead of the Champions League play-off match against Club Brugge earlier this week.
"We've had a difficult season recently and it's been a really difficult season. Most of the players have been here for eight or nine years and I'm not going to change my opinion after two months.
We had to admit that what we were doing was not enough. I asked them to act and we did. We created enough chances to score and in the end I was really pleased with the win against Chelsea.
Of course we need the freshness of Omar Marmoush and Abdukodir Khusanov and now we have the last match of the Champions League on Wednesday this week," coach Pep Guardiola affirmed.
Source: https://dantri.com.vn/the-thao/tan-binh-man-city-ra-mat-tham-hoa-hlv-pep-guardiola-noi-dieu-bat-ngo-20250126090544660.htm
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