Kevin De Bruyne: An unrivaled destroyer on the pitch and an epigrammatic master who will intimidate opponents off it. After scoring in the 10th minute of Manchester City’s 3-1 win in Copenhagen on Tuesday, the Belgian, who set up goals for Bernardo Silva and Phil Foden, said: “I feel good. I still need a few more games and [more] minute. I didn’t play for about 90 minutes [this] and Brentford match [last Monday] for almost a year. “I’m getting there, I feel good and my level is good enough for now, so I’m happy.”
Real Madrid, Bayern Munich and other pretenders to City’s Champions League crown may be demoralized after hearing De Bruyne say the best is yet to come from him after a five-month absence. So do Arsenal and Liverpool, who hope to prevent Pep Guardiola’s side from winning a fourth consecutive Premier League title.
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De Bruyne was in unstoppable form against the Danish champions, even by his own rare standards. This headline contribution took him to score 21 goals in 22 Champions League qualifying matches; The underlying story was that De Bruyne willingly ripped apart Copenhagen in an all-action display of perpetual motion.
From a nominal midfield position, the 32-year-old flew into wide areas on either wing, dropping to make sudden attacks or bursting forward, as when he beat Kamil Grabara with a cool shot from the right.
De Bruyne, Parken’s chosen player of the match, returned for just seven appearances after suffering a serious hamstring injury in the 23rd minute of the season-opener at Burnley. He scored 2 goals and made 7 assists this season.
Guardiola has no desire to throw bouquets at his players, but even he was seemingly pleased with De Bruyne’s display in Copenhagen. “Kevin De Bruyne, like a fine wine, gets better and better,” the city manager said. “Maybe a Brunello di Montalcino or Sassicaia.”
Bottles of both can cost four figures. Guardiola takes sides against a drop in fine vino tinto just like De Bruyne’s talent. The Catalan can also see the positive aspects of the forced break. “He came back very fresh with his mind as well as his body,” he said. “His contribution is always special, Kevin is special.”
How special an interesting discussion is. With Lionel Messi now at Inter Miami, is there a better player in Europe? Examples could be given of Mohamed Salah, Vinícius Jr, De Bruyne’s team-mate Erling Haaland and a few others, but the Belgian’s cocktail of playmaking, game mastery, balance and ferocious goal scoring is a unique package.
With his emotionless attitude, De Bruyne hinted at why he is so strong: “I’m just trying to play well. It’s been a long five or six months but I’m happy to be back, helping the team win games and do my best.” These words suggest an assurance of his talent reflected on the pitch, while De Bruyne’s is a quiet arrogance that expects to shape most competitions .
De Bruyne was hot as Gent’s youngster and his fiery side remains. Guardiola, in his own savvy style, occasionally tries to exacerbate this situation. “We know how we are as humans. How we react sometimes in football; sometimes he says he wants to see me a little angry,” De Bruyne said. “I’ve calmed down a bit over the years but sometimes he wants to make me angry.
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“I think sometimes he doesn’t care when I yell at him. “There is never any ill will in this, it is part of the game and it happens in football anyway between players and staff.”
As happened to Messi at Barcelona, De Bruyne is Guardiola’s chief lieutenant at City. “We know each other very well,” the actor said. “We have been together for seven, eight years. We all want to win and we all want to do our best. Football is emotion, that’s nice. People want to see emotions; We don’t want to be robots. “There are cameras on us all the time, but it’s part of life and football and I hope it never goes unnoticed.”
City will face Chelsea on Saturday to close the gap with leader Liverpool. They are two points behind Jurgen Klopp with a game in hand. The champion has 15 more matches to defend his title. De Bruyne will play a key role in March, a month that could define City’s rise to the double treble, especially given they face Manchester United, Copenhagen in the last 16 second leg and Liverpool, Brighton and Arsenal this term.
The good news for City is that their star player believes he has not yet reached his optimum form, which can only be the worst news for any rivals.