Sofiane Boufal came off the bench for Southampton at The Etihad and changed the game in the blinking of an eye.
Sofiane Boufal has quite a long way to go before he can claim to be in the same league at a certain Matthew Le Tissier.
One is a bonafide Southampton legend who spent his entire career with The Saints, rejecting tempting offers from elsewhere, sacrificing a chance in the England team and scoring a fair few timeless wondergoals along the way.
Boufal, however, remains an enigma. An immensely talented footballer who is just as likely to frustrate as he is to thrill, the Moroccan winger continues to divide supporters both inside and outside St Marys.
But almost a year-and-a-half after Southampton invested a club record £21 million to sign him from Lille (Sky Sports), Boufal is just starting to show some of that frightening potential that had observers in France referring to him as the second coming of Eden Hazard.
A matter of weeks after his slaloming wondergoal earned Mauricio Pellegrino’s side a narrow 1-0 win at West Brom, Boufal came off the bench to fine effect once again as The Saints travelled to Manchester City.
It was his glorious assist which set up Oriol Romeu’s equaliser at The Etihad. And despite Raheem Sterling’s last gasp winner that consigned Southampton to a long trip home without a point to their name, another stellar cameo from Boufal was enough to keep the fans spirits high.
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