FRED DONE
KEVIN de Bruyne is a thinking man’s footballer.
And that makes him a perfect fit for Pep Guardiola’s City, who begin their bid for Champions League glory in the Group F game against Feyenoord tonight.
The Belgian ace is enjoying a rich vein of form, pulling the strings for the Blues who take on the Dutch champs brimming with confidence after the total demolition of Premier League title rivals Liverpool at the Etihad.
Only seven footie fans nationwide had City to win 5-0 at 66/1, including cheeky lifelong Everton supporter Roy Cahill. He got £1 on simply because of the strength of City’s midfield – and in particular De Bruyne.
De Bruyne was man of the match on Saturday with two assists, and afterwards rightly pointed out that the problem last season – when City failed to win anything – was that they slipped up when it mattered in the really big games.
Well this time round, City have a much more ruthless streak about them with two strikers in Sergio Aguero and Gabriel Jesus eager to feed off the midfield maestro, who I reckon must be first name on the team sheet when Pep sharpens his pencil and starts to pick his line-up.
Let’s us hope Guardiola doesn’t start meddling too much with his selection. By my reckoning, settled teams ooze confidence – and there are bound to be enforced changes anyway during the fascinating season with injuries and suspensions.
Make no mistake, Guardiola is under enormous pressure to deliver silverware and all indications after such a blistering start on the domestic front are that he will.
For me there are still questions to be addressed at the back with skipper Vincent Kompany sidelined.
Maybe, if there had been less emphasis on the well-documented pursuit of Arsenal’s Alexis Sanchez during the window then City would have Jonny Evans ready and eager to add his European know how to proceedings.
Betfred have De Bruyne at 6/1 to score first tonight, with Aguero and Jesus both 3/1.
City are strong odds-on favourites to win the group and 10/1 to make club history and win the Champions League for the first time.
The odds on City winning the traditional treble – the Premier League, Champions League and FA Cup - are now 66/1 reflecting the quality of the club’s ambition and the indifferent form of late of Real Madrid, Bayern Munich and Monaco.