De Bruyne back to his best and in the hunt for more trophies
KEVIN DE BRUYNE was the only player left on the Etihad pitch half an hour after full-time, with fans in the corporate boxes still chanting his name.
De Bruyne waved to the gallery with his two young boys running around on the grass in tow.
It is fair to speculate that both infants got closer to their old man, and Manchester City’s match-winner, than opposition midfielders Mateo Kovacic and N’Golo Kante did yesterday.
De Bruyne ran rings around Chelsea, particularly after half-time, as City extended their lead over the visitors to 13 points. The Belgian, whose powers had waned slightly earlier in the year, looks ready to direct City towards more silverware.
The winner, curled into the bottom corner with 20 minutes left, was trademark De Bruyne. ‘He knows what he can do, he’s incredibly beloved by all of us,’ Pep Guardiola said. ‘A lot of prizes and he can behave, he’s completely different. His mum and dad can be so proud.
‘He has won three titles and lots of prizes, but I still want more, I know he can do it.
‘Today, the action he’s done — I haven’t seen it for a long time. He has everything. He missed a bit of confidence this season and struggled.’
De Bruyne had a hangover from two injuries in the summer and suffered from Covid but possesses the ingenuity to unlock the very best.
‘De Bruyne’s individual quality made the difference,’ Chelsea boss Thomas Tuchel said.
The 30-year-old can rush attacks against defensively-minded opposition yet City will not have wanted anyone else on the ball from 25 yards when he wriggled free of Kante.
‘I was looking at the space and they were dropping off, I found the angle and it worked perfectly,’ De Bruyne said.
‘It’s always difficult against them as they are tight defensively, they know what they are doing and you have to be patient. We played the game we needed to play and did what we had to do.’
Meanwhile, City boss Guardiola believes that the unwavering relentlessness created at Manchester City will be his lasting legacy as manager. City inched closer to a fourth Premier League title in five years yesterday, making notions of a three-horse title race appear a distant memory.
Guardiola claimed that it is ‘impossible’ to sew up a title in January but praised his players’ mentality after they racked up a 12th consecutive league win.
‘I don’t know what is going to happen this season — I don’t care — these guys, every game, give everything for this club,’ Guardiola said.
‘We are humble enough to run without the ball. That is our biggest achievement as a club, for sure. This is for me the best title I have or will have when I leave Manchester City.’
The victory heaped more pressure on Liverpool but Guardiola refused to look further than next Saturday’s trip to Southampton. ‘We are together
for six seasons and most of them I know incredibly well and how they celebrate the good moments and suffer the bad ones,’ Guardiola added.
‘So they are going to listen to me that it is not true when the people say it is over. In January, it is impossible that it is over.
‘A problem now is (to take the lead) for granted. If Liverpool win the game in hand, it’s eight points. My job is take from the brains of my players to not believe what people say. But 12 wins — 36 points from 36 — hats off to them.’
City controlled the game against Chelsea and Guardiola praised the patience of his squad.
‘We created enough chances, during 180 minutes against the European champions this season we have conceded one shot on target from Romelu Lukaku.
‘We deserved it today. I like football when it is fair. I was happy to win against Arsenal, but we didn’t deserve it and when we deserve it, it feels better.’