Thomas Tuchel, are you watching?
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Phil Foden has sent an emphatic reminder to England's head coach with two brilliantly taken goals in Manchester City's 4-1 win over Borussia Dortmund in the Champions League.
"He is back," City manager Pep Guardiola said.
"He is a special player."
Tuchel will name his latest squad this week, for the final World Cup qualifiers against Serbia and Albania, after overlooking Foden so far this season and with time running out before next year's finals in North and Central America.
But the City forward strengthened his case for a recall. He scored in each half at the Etihad Stadium, with Erling Haaland smashing home his 27th of the season in between. Substitute Rayan Cherki got the other after Waldemar Anton scored for Dortmund.
Foden's goals — both swept low into the bottom corner — took his season tally to four and could have come at just the right time to capture Tuchel's attention.
"There's no person in this country or around the world that doesn't know his quality and ability, but England is so lucky to have this amount of good players," Guardiola added.
Haaland, meantime, set another scoring benchmark after netting for the fifth consecutive game in European club soccer's elite tournament.
According to City, he is the first player to achieve that feat with three different clubs, having previously done so with RB Salzburg and Dortmund.
His latest goal — a powerfully struck effort from close range — was his 54th in 52 Champions League games. Lionel Messi has the record for reaching 60 goals in the fewest number of matches — 80.
Elsewhere, Inter Milan remain among the teams with a perfect record after beating Kazakhstan's Kairat Almaty 2-1 and Barcelona were held at Club Brugge.
Lautaro Martinez and Carlos Augusto scored a goal in each half for last year's runners-up Inter, who joined Bayern Munich and Arsenal on Wednesday night as the only teams with four victories from as many matches.
Barcelona came from behind three times to draw in Belgium, with Lamine Yamal being decisive in the team's comeback. He scored in the 61st minute and it was his shot in the 77th that led to an own-goal by Brugge midfielder Christos Tzolis for the 3-3 score.
Newcastle United beat Athletic Bilbao 2-0 at St. James' Park thanks to goals from Dan Burns and Joelinton, but fellow Premier League big guns Chelsea drew 2-2 with Qarabag.
Substitute Alejandro Garnacho scored a second-half goal to earn the Blues a share of the points in Azerbaijan.
Chelsea's Estevao, the man of the match, opened the scoring in the 16th minute but the hosts rallied with goals from Leandro Andrade in the 29th and a Marko Jankovic penalty in the 39th.
Former Blues boss Jose Mourinho's Benfica lost 1-0 at home to Bayer Leverkusen for their fourth straight defeat in the league phase.
Ajax Amsterdam also picked up their fourth consecutive loss after going down 3-0 at home to Galatasaray, while Pafos earned their first-ever league-phase victory by beating Spanish club Villarreal 1-0 in Cyprus.
Australian Associated Press
