“Oh, Kevin De Bruyne,” was the jubilant greeting from the Manchester City supporters when their beloved hero came on in the 57th minute. The Belgian, injured 149 days ago at Burnley, also received a pat on the backside from Pep Guardiola and the captain’s armband from Rúben Dias. Seconds later he proved a lucky charm.
When Mateo Kovacic flighted the ball upfield to Matheus Nunes, De Bruyne joined the break. The Portuguese passed right to Oscar Bobb, who unloaded and beat Lee Nicholls via a ricochet off Ben Jackson, De Bruyne following up though not required.
That was 3-0 and tie over, De Bruyne having been joined by Jérémy Doku, whose last action before a muscle problem was in the 3-3 draw with Spurs on 3 December. Each ending unscathed – Doku completed the scoring – is great news for City but unwanted tidings for their rivals, with Saturday’s trip to Newcastle next, the champions five points behind Liverpool with a game in hand.
Guardiola said: “We are incredibly delighted he is back – Kevin helps to win games and there are few in the world [like this]. I am pretty sure Kevin felt how people love him. Now we have a difficult game at Newcastle and go to Abu Dhabi to train in better conditions. What I want in the second part of the season is to arrive with everyone fit – Kevin and Erling [Haaland, who is out] and Jérémy.”
Of De Bruyne and the excellent Phil Foden dovetailing, he said: “When I started at Barcelona [in 2008] people said Xavi and [Andrés] Iniesta and [Sergio] Busquets cannot play together: why not?”
Huddersfield kicked off a place and three points above the Championship trapdoor and hoping, somehow, to prosper against a City side who were unbeaten in their last seven outings. Guardiola’s team, as is nearly always the case, hogged the ball, established a base camp in the opponent’s territory and plotted the route to goal from there. A Julián Álvarez shot hit into the midrift of Nicholls was one direct way and so, too, were the corners they forced.
From one, taken short by Foden on the left, the ball arrived on the opposite side, Bobb was pilfered and Town’s break was thwarted. The Norwegian’s next contribution was a cut infield from the right before an attempt, this coming after Manuel Akanji had been floored by a scything Alex Matos challenge – the defender was replaced by Nunes.
A midfielder for a defender meant a rejig that featured Rico Lewis moving to right-back and Nunes going into the central area. At this stage City needed to add thrust to forays that were too sideways, so Foden did, swerving in and letting fly, Sergio Gómez doing the same when the left-back raided in behind, firing over a cross the Terriers just about scrambled away.
This presaged a breakthrough which came courtesy of a slick no-look Kovacic pass to Álvarez. Inside Town’s area he shot, the ball squirmed off a defender to Foden whose 10th of the season in City colours sliced past Nicholls.
The second had a smattering of comedy about it. Foden delayed a return to Nunes who, on receiving, turned it to Lewis. When he shifted the ball sideways it caused Álvarez to execute a near-pratfall as he poked a boot out to turn the ball towards goal, this seeming to wrongfoot Nicholls.
As De Bruyne warmed up to a rousing reception the tie became a keep-ball exercise for City: something they are masters of. They are versed, too, in how to obliterate a foe and, after Jackson’s own goal, came the fourth, Foden’s second. De Bruyne took a short corner on the right, possession was worked to the 23-year-old and he fashioned a vicious shot past the Huddersfield goalkeeper.
City’s fifth came from a De Bruyne and Doku combo: the former glided along the right and his pullback was slotted in by the latter, making this halfway to the home team’s tally in the famous 10-1 second-tier victory over Town in 1987.
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After last season’s sweep of this competition, the Premier League and Champions League, what else might this City team of the gilded Guardiola era achieve? One answer is to retain the treble and move the manager’s side 2-1 ahead of Manchester United in this metric, giving them a claim to being the greatest ever. Guardiola would scoff at this being possible. But he did, in essence, last season when asked whether the treble was on.
Darren Moore, the Huddersfield manager, said: “It was always a difficult task.”
