Kevin de Bruyne showed how he is one of the world's best players against Real Madrid on Wednesday night, and his personal highlight reel is one to watch.
Pep Guardiola surprised everyone with his tactics against Real. The City boss left out Sergio Aguero and Raheem Sterling and started Gabriel Jesus out wide with De Bruyne the most far forward attacker.
The tactics paid off though with the Belgian midfielder at the forefront of a 2-1 win for the Premier League champions and the highlights of his game show how good he was:
Kevin De Bruyne vs Real Madrid pic.twitter.com/tQn0Q1pQw0
— josh (@ctrfootball) February 26, 2020
Kevin De Bruyne’s game by numbers vs. Real Madrid:
— Statman Dave (@StatmanDave) February 26, 2020
100% goal involvement (1⚽️ 1🅰️)
30 final third passes (most)
6 crosses (joint most)
4 chances created (most)
3 successful take-ons (most)
3 shots (second most)
Big stage, big display. 👏👏👏 pic.twitter.com/gayi4Mii7Z
The former Chelsea midfielder set up City's first goal, playing a brilliant ball for Gabriel Jesus, to pull them level after Isco had given the hosts the lead.
After Dani Carvajal fouled substitute Sterling in the box the Belgian stepped up to convert the penalty, after four players had missed recent spot kicks for the English side in the league, to hand them the lead and two away goals going into the second leg.
Sergio Ramos' late sending off gave De Bruyne, Guardiola and the travelling fans even more to be happy about going into the game at the Etihad in three weeks time.
Speaking to BT Sport after the match, about Guardiola's selections, De Bruyne admitted that even the players didn't always know what was happening ahead of games, "I think, the four years we're here with Pep, there are some surprises [within the squad], and even the players, they don't know before the game starts what they need to do.
"Some [changes] were good. I think we had some lesser moments. In a quality game like this, you're going to struggle sometimes, but I thought we really fought really well together."
Before the match Guardiola was under pressure for failing to win many away games in the knockout stages of the Champions League and for his unconventional changes in the latter stages often leading to losses.
On Wednesday night he got everything spot on in the Bernabeu, especially how he used De Bruyne.
source https://www.sportbible.com/football/take-a-bow-skills-de-bruynes-highlights-package-vs-real-madrid-shows-hes-a-genius-20200227
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