Pep Guardiola has praised Manchester City star Ferran Torres following the forward’s hat-trick in Friday’s 4-3 win at Newcastle.
Torres has enjoyed a promising debut season since signing in a £20m deal from Valencia last summer and the 21-year-old enjoyed the best performance of his City career to date at St James’ Park.
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The Spain international scored three times as City twice came from behind to win against the Magpies, netting a brilliantly improvised flicked finish, before showing his goalscoring instincts with two clinical goals to earn the match-ball.
Guardiola has lauded the quality of Torres’ opening goal and admits the youngster offers his side a unique alternative to lead the line, with the summer signing pushing for a place in the club’s Champions League final XI on May 29.
“The goal was so nice,” Guardiola told his pre-match press conference ahead of the trip to Brighton tomorrow.
“An absolutely talented action. In training he already has the ability and he is a good finisher. He has pace, quality and good decision-making.
“There are three games left. After we finish. We used him in that position because for a long period of the season Gabriel [Jesus] and Sergio [Aguero] were injured.
“Some games we need a proper striker and we’ve used him and he’s done really well. He’s a winger, of course, but an alternative. [Phil] Foden can play wing and striker as well. [Joao] Cancelo can play both sides and the middle. We have players in different positions and Ferran is one of them.”
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