Pep Guardiola hailed Leroy Sane's 'beautiful' winner as Manchester City came from behind to finish their Champions League group stage with a 2-1 victory over plucky Hoffenheim.
The Germany international equalised for a dominant but wasteful City on the stroke of half-time with an outrageous, dipping free-kick after ex-Leicester striker Andrej Kramaric's 16th-minute penalty had given the visitors a shock lead.
And Sane struck again on 61 minutes, eventually finishing a slick counter-attack.
'The first goal was beautiful,' the City manager said. 'The second goal was a bit lucky because his control was not good, but he finished it.'
Days after Raheem Sterling was allegedly racially abused by fans at Chelsea, Sane appeared to be the subject of a torrent of stick from his compatriots in the away section when he celebrated his equaliser.
Guardiola was unaware of the incident, but was confident UEFA would act if necessary.
'I don't know what happened,' he said. 'UEFA is there. If it happened it's bad news but I don't know.'
Guardiola added he did not think twice about selecting Sterling, who impressed without scoring.
'His performance was excellent and he will improve,' he said.
The City boss was also full of praise for Phil Foden, who played 90 minutes after signing a five-and-a-half-year deal earlier this week.
'He was incredible,' Guardiola said of the 18-year-old. 'I never have doubts about his quality. He looks skinny, not strong but he's really strong. I think England has a diamond.
'It's not easy to compete here but he's incredible in training every day. He'll have a lot of minutes in future.'
City would have finished top of Group F regardless of the result, after second-placed Lyon could only draw with Shakhtar Donetsk. But the victory will restore confidence after Saturday's 2-0 defeat at Chelsea.
'It is a different competition but for the stats it is good,' Guardiola said. 'Its terrible when you lose and you try to break it and end it and win. Of course, it was important.'
Sane, who has five goals in his last five games for City, was left to reflect on a job well done.
'Our target was to win, to be first and to get confidence to keep going,' he said. 'We had some good moments and in the end it was OK.'
And the modest 22-year-old revealed he had second thoughts before hitting his wonder strike.
'I was thinking of whether to shoot or not from the free-kick,' he said. 'It was quite a distance. It was quite lucky.'