Pep Guardiola makes 'desperate' Liverpool claim as he sends Phil Foden warning

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And the Spaniard says he is 'desperate' to face Liverpool at the Etihad on Sunday.Foden lit up City's 4-1 Champions League win over Borussia Dortmund on Wednesday night, scoring twice to register his first European goals of the season and double his tally in all competitions.Erling Haaland was inevitably on the scoresheet against his former club while Rayan Cherki added a late fourth after Waldemar Anton's strike offered Dortmund a route back into the game. But the night was all about Foden and his two superbly-taken strikes.READ MORE: Arne Slot ponders surprise Florian Wirtz move as Alexander Isak Liverpool update expectedCity's star academy graduate struggled for much of last season, opening up about off-field issues and injuries that affected him, but ahead of this weekend's massive Premier League match against Liverpool, the signs are that the 25-year-old is back to his best, having been the stand-out player in City's Premier League winning 2023/24 campaign."Phil is back," Guardiola said.

Phil is fantastic at that..."This season he is back. He's a special player but we need his goals and hopefully today was the first step to do it."It's important to have him for the big, big match on Sunday (against Liverpool)."The question is whether or not Thomas Tuchel has seen enough to bring Foden back into the England squad, having left him out of the last two camps.

"I think Thomas knows perfectly Phil and Phil is playing better and better...England is lucky to have many players in this position and that's what he had to push and be better and say, 'I'm going to show how good I am'."City's win put them fourth in the Champions League standings with 10 points from four games, with an almost three-week wait until their next game at home to Bayer Leverkusen on November 25. Instead attention turns to Sunday's visit of Premier League champions Liverpool.Guardiola said he spent his Tuesday evening watching Arne Slot's side beat Real Madrid 1-0 and insisted he is well aware of the challenge despite their recent wobble."Of course it surprised me a lot that they lost a lot of games but sometimes it's about momentum," Guardiola said."All the clubs are there except Arsenal who are more consistent than anyone."But the season is long so we try to be there and see what happens.