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 outwardly delighted with De Bruyne’s display in Copenhagen. “Kevin De Bruyne is getting better, like good wine,” the City manager. “He’s maybe a Brunello di Montalcino or Sassicaia.”
Bottles of either can cost four figures. Guardiola is as partial to a drop of fine viño tinto as he is to De Bruyne’s talent. The Catalan can see, too, the silver lining of the enforced break. “He’s returned very fresh in his body but also in his mind,” he said. “His contribution is always special, Kevin is special.”
Just how special is an intriguing debate. With Lionel Messi now at Inter Miami, is there a finer footballer in Europe? Cases can be made for Mohamed Salah, Vinícius Jr, De Bruyne’s teammate Erling Haaland and a few others, yet the Belgian’s cocktail of playmaking, game mastery, poise and predatory goalscoring is a unique package.
In his deadpan manner, De Bruyne hinted at why he is so strong: “I’m just trying to play good. It’s been a long five or six months, but I’m just happy to be back, helping the team win games and be at my best.” The words suggest an assurance in his ability we see mirrored on the field, where De Bruyne’s is a calm arrogance that expects to shape most contests.
De Bruyne was angry as a youth player at Gent and his fiery side remains. Guardiola, in his own savvy way, tries to stoke it occasionally. “We know how we are as people. How we sometimes react in football – sometimes he says he wants to see me a little bit angry,” said De Bruyne. “With the years I’ve calmed down a little bit but sometimes he wants to get me angry.
“I guess when I shout back at him sometimes, he doesn’t mind. There are never bad intentions in it, it’s part of the game and it happens in football anyway with players and staff.”
As was the case with Messi at Barcelona, De Bruyne is Guardiola’s chief lieutenant at City. “We know each other really well,” the player said. “We’ve been together for seven, eight years now. We all want to win, and we all want to do the best. Football is emotion – that’s nice. People want to see emotion – we don’t want to be robots. There’s always cameras on us but it’s part of life and football and I hope that never gets away.”
City face Chelsea on Saturday looking to close the gap on the leaders Liverpool. They sit two points behind Jürgen Klopp’s side with a game in hand. The champions have 15 more games in their bid to retain their title. De Bruyne will be key, particularly in March, a month that could define City’s tilt at the double-treble, given they face Manchester United, Copenhagen in their last-16 second leg, Liverpool, Brighton and Arsenal in that period.
The good news for City is that their star man believes he has not yet reached his optimum form – which, for all competitors, can only be the worst of tidings.
