Rico Lewis made the most of a rare start for Manchester City, delivering an impressive display in Tuesday night's Champions League tie against AEK Athens. The 21-year-old, who has struggled for meaningful minutes this season, was the pick of the home players in the first half and set up Phil Foden's second goal of the night.
Lewis's start came as something of a surprise, even with Matheus Nunes missing through injury. Abdukodir Khusanov has been preferred at right back by Enzo Maresca as Nunes's alternative, but the Uzbekistan international is better in the middle of the backline. The City chief took the midweek match with the Greek champions as an opportunity to rest Marc Guehi and move Khusanov inside.
A Familiar Pattern of Limited Game Time
Lewis described last season as 'just what he needed,' but he didn't want a repeat this time around. Last year he started the first two Premier League matches but didn't make the XI again until the Manchester derby in January. His only other top-flight start came on the final day of the season as part of a heavily rotated side against Aston Villa.
Fast forward 12 months and Lewis was again in City's opening day XI but was hooked early in the second half against Bournemouth and disappeared onto the bench. He did play in the Carabao Cup win over Championship side Norwich in September, but such was his lack of game-time that his Champions League start was unexpected.
Impressive Display Against AEK Athens
Lewis was rampaging on the right and while his positional sense defensively can still be questioned, and he didn't cover himself in glory for the AEK goal, the movement and energy he offered elsewhere showed he can still bring plenty to this City side. His touch to set up Foden for the hat-trick hero's second of the night was sublime.
The academy graduate will have been hoping for more chances under Maresca, who took individual sessions with Lewis after training during his spell as assistant in the 2022-23 campaign, when the England international first emerged into the XI.
International Recall and Future Hopes
That catapulted him into the Three Lions team and he earned five caps, but the last of those came in 2024. He was called into Thomas Tuchel's squad this month as an injury replacement for City team-mate Nico O'Reilly and earned a club recall against AEK.
Speaking exclusively to the Manchester Evening News in the summer, Lewis insisted he was happy with his career path - 'there's a plan that is in place for me that I just have to believe in' - and spoke of a desire to play as many games as possible this term. That hasn't happened as yet, but performances like Tuesday night can only help his cause.
