Julian Alvarez scored his 15th goal for Manchester City. it wasn't Erling Haaland, though he scored his 50th goal of the season authoritatively, and it wasn't Kevin De Bruyne.
Instead, Julián Álvarez once again showed why Manchester City are on their way to winning the Premier League third consecutive season. It certainly helps if you have a World Cup winner on hand.
“Julian is something special,” Pep Guardiola later said. «He scored a perfect goal, the whole action was brilliant… He plays for the national team, the world champions, and if you're not good, you can't play in the World Cup team.»
Or this side of town. Intimidating is Guardiola, who actually looked flustered before kick-off and later expressed concern that City might lack intensity as he harassed Arsenal and beat them last Wednesday. He said he had to find a way to get Alvarez on the same team as Holland and De Bruyne.
«In the future, we need to make some adjustments to get them both to play with Kevin,» the city manager said, praising Alvarez's «intensity under pressure» and his «vision and movement.»
This intensity is — all the more remarkable given the number of games the 23-year-old Argentine has played. He may not have been a regular starter — yet — for City since his £14m move (what a small thing), which is probably a relief. It was his 80th game in his endless season.
When Julian Alvarez starts, he scores 🔥#TelegraphFootball | #FULMCIpic.twitter.com/8Ml7Dodhvt
— Telegraph Football (@TeleFootball) April 30, 2023
This «season» dates back to February — 2022, not 2023 — in the Argentine league with River Plate and includes the Copa Libertadores (South American Champions League), friendlies for Argentina, the resumption of the national league, another Copa Libertadores. game, crossing continents and joining City, debuting in the Community Shield, going to and winning the World Cup, then resuming play with City and fighting on all fronts. All without interruption. Even listing it is tedious.
"Every time he plays, it's huge. Today's goal was extraordinary. To be honest, we have an incredible striker,” Guardiola said, and no one could argue with that. After all, if you can be a successful shooting partner for Lionel Messi, then working with this City team and playing with Haaland is the way to go.
However, it was a difficult victory. Guardiola's concern was genuine, and he later compared it to the last time City dropped points in February, when City lost 1-1 to Nottingham Forest in the league.
Beating » Fulham» means defeat. they got it back — one point ahead with a game in hand — but it was much more difficult than expected when Haaland decisively scored his early penalty after Tim Rome flipped Álvarez.
On a terrible day for the Fulham captain, he soon left with a suspected broken arm, ending his season after colliding with the clingy Alvarez again and falling awkwardly. Later, Fulham also lost Andreas Pereira to a nasty ankle injury.
But they made it harder. Very difficult for the City. In fact, Jack Grealish was lucky not to get a second yellow card for his persistent and sarcastic complaints about referee Simon Hooper, while Kyle Walker and Ederson were warned for wasting time. In injury time, when Haaland won a corner, he gave Walker a high-five in relief.
At the final whistle, Haaland lay down on his stomach and slammed his fist on the lawn in celebration, while the force of Guardiola's embrace as he searched for his players betrayed his feelings.
Erling Haaland left Pep Guardiola stunned after breaking a 92-year-old record
City are now 18 games unbeaten and this will go down in history as one of the toughest matches of their stories. that is why the participation of Alvarez was so important.
This means that the league's historic treble, FA Cup and Champions League are only 10 games away, and it's the likes of Alvarez and the incredible contributions of Haaland and De Bruyne that make this achievement a clear opportunity.
De Bruyne was out, ruled out due to Guardiola saying «he didn't feel too good», but Alvarez not only earned a penalty but came up with a finish that the Belgian would be happy with. It was a de Bruyne-style goal that decided everything.
Haaland's penalty suggested it might be a procession, but Fulham had other ideas as Carlos Vinicius equalized them with an achieved kick. Indeed, Bernd Leno was in such good shape — taking Grealish's shot to the crossbar — that it seemed as if the former Arsenal goalkeeper was helping his old club.
Erling Haaland's penalty was his 34th Premier League goal of the season and 50th in all competitions. Photo: Getty Images/Jacques Feeney
But he couldn't do anything about Alvarez's goal. Fulham lost possession cheaply, much to the dismay of manager Marco Silva, but there was still more to be done as Alvarez struggled for the ball. Suddenly, 25 yards away, he landed a right-footed kick that arced over Leno and hit high into the net.
But that wasn't the only thing. Alvarez played behind Haaland and sometimes next to him, or pushed to the right, and it was an exact copy of the role sometimes played by De Bruyne. However, he is a different player and while he may not have the guile of his teammate in passing, he is direct and tenacious and was at the center of the threat posed by City. Much more than Grealish or Riyad Mahrez.
«We talked about it and said, 'Today the game we play will determine a lot,'» Guardiola said. With the freshness, drive, ability and desire that Alvarez brought, this definition was one of the chosen champions.
Team line-ups Fulham — Manchester City
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