Pep Guardiola insists he retains full faith in Kevin De Bruyne after the Manchester City star produced a stellar display in last night’s crushing 7-0 Champions League win over RB Leipzig.
The Premier League champions booked their place in quarter finals of Europe’s elite club competition with one of their most ruthless displays of the season.
Erling Haaland scored five times during an awesome display of finishing, ably backed up by his skipper who returned to the starting line-up having been benched at Crystal Palace last Saturday.
De Bruyne subsequently gave a masterful performance against the hapless Bundesliga side who were torn to shreds by a City team which is hitting form at just the right time.
Guardiola, however, insists there is still more to come from De Bruyne and challenged the Belgium international to hit the levels of consistency shown by Ilkay Gundogan who he described as City’s best midfielder this season.
‘Kevin is a player for the dynamics. If he doesn’t have the dynamic or movements he is not a player like can play there,’ Guardiola explained.
‘He’s not a player who receives the ball in the pockets and can stop. He’s a guy who outside, inside, attack here, attack there. Make the transitions, press high. Building from Bernardo, Erling. Intensity we have, this is the player we know.
‘I know Kevin can’t play all the time in that position. You have to understand his quality. When it happens, the assists come free, the goals come free.
‘[But] he doesn’t do that after the amount of balls he lost to give up transitions for the opponents [in previous games]. He doesn’t make assists or goals.
‘I am going to discover Kevin De Bruyne? After seven years together, I’m going to tell you how incredible he is? In periods sometimes you are up, lows. When Kevin is right, left, moving here, close to central defenders to set the ball, in the box arrive, make the transitions. Kevin is ‘hats off’. But he has to realise.
‘Because when that happens, he doesn’t lose balls. He’s aggressive with the ball and helps us to make high press.
‘The people say ‘he has to play KDB all the time’. You think I’m stupid in that level Leipzig are going to play? He would not play in that way.
‘You have to sit and realise. Bernardo deserve to play? Gundogan, he’s the best midfielder we have this season. They have to compete with each other and reach the highest level possible. Otherwise another player is going to play.’
