BLUE HEAVEN ‘Perfect’ De Bruyne gets City out of jail
Manuel Pellegrini was happy to talk about Kevin after his ‘perfect’ £54million record signing snatched a priceless victory over Sevilla.
De Bruyne struck in injury time to give Manchester City an unlikely three points on what had threatened to be another frustrating Champions league night at the etihad Stadium.
Manchester united had teenage sensation anthony Martial to thank as his header rescued a point at CSKa Moscow in group B. But it was Chilean Pellegrini, who sent attacking midfielder
De Bruyne up front late on in what turned out to be a masterstroke, and he hailed the ex-Chelsea man’s performance. ‘We bought Kevin because we thought he was a very creative player,’ he said. ‘He has goals in him. This team always tries to play attractive and offensive football and for that you need good players. In all senses he was the perfect player to arrive to our team.’ Pellegrini (right with De Bruyne) played down his own role. ‘It’s very important for Kevin,’ he said. ‘We made a change because we were not creating chances. Fortunately he made the play.’ Pellegrini again left captain Vincent Kompany on the bench. The Belgian recently played for his country against his manager’s wishes and came on for the final two minutes. ‘Vincent is just coming back from a long injury,’ said Pellegrini, who denied he was punishing his skipper. ‘Maybe it was a risk to play him in a big game.’ City head into Sunday’s derby with United in high spirits and Pellegrini added: ‘When you win in the last minute it gives you more trust in what you are doing. It’s important to arrive for a derby winning.’ De Bruyne, who struck after an Adil Rami own goal cancelled out Yevhen Konoplyanka’s opener, was relieved. ‘I think even though we didn’t have a bad game in the end we tried everything to look for the victory and thankfully we scored,’ he said. The win puts second-placed City three points clear of Sevilla in Group D for the return in a fortnight but De Bruyne vowed that they would not go to Spain for a draw. ‘We have the team to attack,’ he said. ‘Sevilla are good in possession but we must try to get three points.’ Goalkeeper Joe Hart was tested a number of times and admitted City were exposed. ‘We are an attacking team and we leave ourselves short at the back sometimes,’ he said. Before the game, Greater Manchester Police arrested three Polish men after trouble outside a city centre bar. Disturbing video footage captured two groups of men hurling objects, including chairs and a bike, at each other. Police believe it may be linked to a feud dating back to 2013 between fans of Polish club Slask Wroclaw and Sevilla’s support.