Mateo Kovacic found his scoring boots to get Manchester City back to winning ways, as boss Pep Guardiola joked it was a “copy and paste” job of Rodri.
Rodri, City’s key defensive midfielder, is basically irreplaceable. But since his season-ending ACL injury, Kovacic and Ilkay Gundogan are playing as a double pivot.
Such is City’s style of play that both ended up playing the majority of Saturday’s 3-2 win in Fulham’s half.
It ended a run of two Premier League draws since Rodri’s injury against Arsenal. Failure to win on Saturday would have meant their worst league run in 2024.
Kovacic, 30, is not a goalscoring midfielder. That has never been his job at Dinamo Zagreb, Inter Milan, Real Madrid, Chelsea or Manchester City.
But you do not end up with a list of clubs like that without being a top-quality midfielder.
“He is not a top goalscorer but he maybe saw how many goals Rodri has scored in that position and did copy and paste. He scored two fantastic goals,” Guardiola told BBC Match of the Day afterwards.
Kovacic’s first was a deflected shot from a half-cleared corner and his second was a clean strike from the edge of the area early in the second half.
In his post-match news conference, Guardiola added: “They went four to five [defenders]. When they defended with five there is one man free on the edge of the box – Kovacic.
“The two goals were because in that position they can’t defend it. Kovacic was really important. Now opponents know they can’t leave him alone or he can score a goal.”
Kovacic’s double takes him up to three league goals for the season – having also netted against former club Chelsea – his best campaign already since 2014-15 for Inter Milan.
This marked only the second time he has ever scored more than once in a game – after a 2014 Europa League qualifying hat-trick for Inter against Icelandic side Stjarnan.
He celebrated a goal by sucking a thumb and told BBC Radio 5 Live: “It means a lot because my wife is pregnant so it was great to get some goals for the little one.”