A week on from Manchester City’s painful capitulation in Madrid, the response has been quite magnificent. After Kevin De Bruyne rolled in his and Manchester City’s fourth goal, Pep Guardiola jumped into the arms of his assistant, Rodolfo Borrell. By then Guardiola had already ditched the mammoth black puffer coat, and the gloves have long been off in their pursuit of retaining their Premier League crown.
De Bruyne’s peerless performance helped to restore City’s three-point advantage over Liverpool at the top and there are now just two hurdles between them and a fourth league title in five seasons. Raheem Sterling added a fifth goal with six minutes to play but it was De Bruyne, who borrowed Erling Haaland’s meditating celebration as he completed a 17-minute first-half hat-trick, who fuelled this spectacular and unerring rout of Wolves.
