Kevin de Bruyne is a “special player” according to Manchester City boss Pep Guardiola.
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City maintained their season’s 100 percent competitive record with the 4-0 annihilation of Bournemouth, breaking a 119-year-old club record in the process, and afterwards Guardiola could not have been more effusive in praise of his remarkable midfielder.
De Bruyne has 18 goals and provided 16 assists for City in just 48 games, and seems determined to prove a point after then-Chelsea coach Jose Mourinho sold him to Wolfsburg in 2014 saying he was not ready for the Premier League.
As a result they now sit top of the Premier League table and have begun their Champions League campaign with a 4-0 win over Borussia Monchengladbach, leading some to tip them to land the quadruple this season. He is a fantastic player.
“Guardiola said De Bruyne was one of the best players he has managed, adding: “(Lionel) Messi is on a table on his own.
“Without the ball he is the first fighter and with the ball he’s clear. We are lucky to have him and I hope he can enjoy playing his unbelievable football with us”.
City fans think they are lucky to have Guardiola too.
Kevin De Bruyne gets Manchester City on the board in the 15th minute, before Kelechi Iheanacho doubles their advantage 10 minutes later.
His vision and excellence were embodied in the first goal, a free-kick which he deliberately fired along the ground into the net after sensing that the Bournemouth wall would leap in unison anticipating a curler over the top.
Some pundits predicted Manchester City might suffer during Sergio Aguero’s three-match suspension but, after winning the Manchester derby last weekend, they tore into Bournemouth and wasted little time in taking the game away from their opponents. Guardiola, though, warned against the euphoria.
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“I have seen what happens when the trainer didn’t win, they have been so critical and they didn’t deserve that”. “Our plan wasn’t to sit as deep as we did first half but we ended up getting trapped with nowhere to go. Important ones. I need to be stable”, he warned. We want to see Jack in their half and in the final third but we didn’t get there enough so to see his best qualities was impossible today. Everything starts with that humble attitude. I feel we can do better than that.
