Pep Guardiola wants Lyon striker Maxwel Cornet after his brace against Man City in Champions League
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PEP GUARDIOLA is eyeing a summer move for Lyon striker Maxwell Cornet, according to reports.
report that the Spaniard is a huge admirer of the 22-year-old and is keeping a close eye on his progress.
And Cornet, who attracted interest from Fulham earlier this year, will be even further up Guardiola’s wish list after bagging a brace against City on Tuesday night.
Lyon were left to rue their missed chances in the entertaining 2-2 draw, their penultimate Champions League group stage fixture.
Cornet, who was named man-of-the-match after an impressive display, had put the hosts ahead twice in the game.
But they were pegged back twice by Aymeric Laporte and Sergio Aguero’s headers.
MAXWEL CORNET LIGUE 1 STATS
2014-15: 0 goals in 4 appearances
2015-16: 8 goals in 31 appearances
2016-17: 6 goals in 33 appearances
2017-18: 4 goals in 30 appearances
2018-19 (so far): 1 goal in 8 appearances
Speaking after the game, the Ivorian, who has three goals in as many games, described the result “a shame”, as a win could have sealed qualification to the knock-out stages of the competition.
He said: “We had a very good game tonight, collectively speaking.
"We showed a beautiful side of ourselves. We were solid defensively and creating plenty of chances.
“It's a shame we couldn't win. We could have opened the score in the first half.
"We know that at this level you aren't forgiven for small mistakes - City are a very big team.
"We will now go for the qualification in Ukraine."
Cornet’s double means he’s he first player to score three goals against the Citizens in the Uefa Champions League since Lionel Messi in the 2016-17 season.
He added: "For a striker, it's good to get as many chances in a match as I got tonight. It was important to stay in the game after missing my first chances.
“I stayed focused and was successful after that. The first goal? I saw the keeper off his line.
“I took my chance and it paid off. I'm happy with this goal. The second one? I tried to shoot between the keeper's legs."
