‘Special’ De Bruyne key to Manchester City’s pursuit of more history

Kevin De Bruyne: peerless on-pitch destroyer and neat with an epigram to terrify opponents off it. After scoring in the 10th minute of Manchester City’s 3-1 victory in Copenhagen on Tuesday and then creating goals for Bernardo Silva and Phil Foden the Belgian offered up the following: “I feel all right. I still need a couple more games and [more] minutes. 

"I’ve not played 90 minutes like [this] and the Brentford game [last Monday] for almost a year. I’m getting there, feeling good, and the level is good enough for the moment, so I’m happy.” 

Real Madrid, Bayern Munich and all other pretenders to City’s Champions League throne may have their morale punctured upon hearing De Bruyne say the best is yet to come from him following a five-month layoff. 

So, too, Arsenal and Liverpool, who hope to prevent Pep Guardiola’s side collecting a record fourth consecutive Premier League crown.

Even by his rarefied standard, De Bruyne was in unstoppable form against the champions of Denmark. The headline contribution took him to 21 goal involvements in 22 Champions League knockout matches; the underlying story was of De Bruyne shredding Copenhagen at will in an all-action display of perpetual motion.

From a nominal midfield berth, the 32-year-old flitted into wide zones on both flanks, dropped off to prompt attacks, or surged forward, as when he beat Kamil Grabara from the right with a coolly stroked finish.

Voted player of the match at Parken, De Bruyne is only seven appearances into a comeback from the serious hamstring injury he suffered 23 minutes into the opening game of the season at Burnley. He has scored twice and assisted seven times this season.

Guardiola has no penchant for throwing bouquets at his players but even he was