Manchester City manager Pep Guardiola spoke about Rayan Cherki after their 3-0 win over Sunderland
Pep Guardiola likened Rayan Cherki to Lionel Messi as the Manchester City forward helped seal an important win over Sunderland that moves the Blues to within two points of Premier League leaders Arsenal. City capitalised on Aston Villa’s victory with three goals and a clean sheet against one of the surprise packages in the top flight this season.
City were helped in resisting another second-half collapse by a wonderful bit of skill from summer signing Cherki and he produced a rabona cross that Phil Foden headed in to make it 3-0. The skill drew gasps from the crowd when it was shown on the big screen as Foden went straight over to celebrate with the 22-year-old.
Cherki has had an excellent week, earning a start against Sunderland with the composure he showed in the final minutes at Fulham when the Blues were threatening to throw the game away. And while the assist for Foden was the most eye-catching for many, Guardiola preferred to talk about the simple things Cherki did that make him think of Messi.
“Rayan is an exceptional player, he is so young, he has a huge personality, he proved it against Fulham in the toughest moments. He had the ball at 5-4 and every time gave us an extra pass, he is not scared and has self-confidence,” said Guardiola.
“In the final third he has something special. What I admire the most about Rayan is not the skills. I never saw Messi play a cross like he has done. Messi is the best player to play the game but I never saw these kind of crosses.
“Crosses are fine, right or left or which part of your feet, it doesn’t matter. If it is effective it is fine but I like the simplicity because I learned from Messi that he never makes a mistake with the simple things. The simple things he does perfectly – then he dribbles past four or five players.
“I want players to do the simple things well and after that you have special talent and he can do whatever he wants but if he doesn’t work now it will be a problem. He will be in trouble. We like to tell them to move in those spaces but when they have the ball do whatever they want.
“Before the cross was done, I didn’t tell Rayan to put the right leg behind the left leg and cross. They have to play. We tell them for the way the opponents attack and defend what they have to do.”
