If there is one thing that Man City’s opponents fear most, it is certainly not Erling Haaland’s elite goal-scoring skills. Kevin De Bruyne has returned and has an even scarier version than when he was not injured.
Copenhagen is not an opponent on paper capable of causing difficulties for Pep Guardiola and his team on the road to defending the Champions League championship. On the other hand, if only looking at Man City’s 3-1 win in Denmark, not many people would think that Copenhagen almost tormented the reigning Champions League champions on the day goalkeeper Ederson made a disastrous mistake and Jack Grealish had to leave the match due to injury.
There is one name that turned this match into a place where everyone had to talk about themselves: De Bruyne. Since the Belgian midfielder returned from a hamstring injury, Man City started the new year with a series of 7 consecutive wins, bringing in 20 goals. His mark in this series of matches cannot be underestimated: directly scoring 2 goals and 7 assists. In the Copenhagen match alone, he left his mark on all three of Man City’s goals, directly opening the score and creating a double assist for Bernardo Silva and Phil Foden to end all hopes of a surprise for the home team. .
The return of the 32-year-old midfielder gives coach Guardiola another reason to motivate his students to think about another treble this season, after last season’s magical treble. The Spanish coach of course does not want to make that expectation public, partly because he sees that historically, no team in Europe has ever repeated the treble next season after winning it in the previous season. previous prize. Guardiola himself was an experienced witness to that statement when his Barcelona only won La Liga in the 2009-10 season after winning the treble the previous season.
However, Guardiola’s Man City this season can completely think about this extraordinary feat when looking at the decline of many giants such as Bayern Munich, PSG or Barcelona. The Etihad Stadium team is on the road to returning to the top of the Premier League as they are only 2 points behind top team Liverpool while still having the advantage of playing 1 match less than their opponent, while continuing their journey in the FA Cup.