Pep Guardiola in Tuesday hailed Kevin de Bruyne’s form “extraordinary” after the Belgian was involved in all three goals as Manchester City beat Copenhagen 3-1 to close in on the UEFA Champions League quarter-finals.
De Bruyne’s early opener was canceled out against the run of play by Magnus Mattsson.
Bernardo Silva restored City’s lead before halftime, but they had to wait until stoppage-time to add further punishment for the hosts when Phil Foden turned home De Bruyne’s cutback.
Photo: Reuters
De Bruyne was sidelined for five months by a hamstring tear suffered on the opening night of the English Premier League season in August last year, but since his return last month, the 32-year-old has scored two goals and provided seven assists in seven appearances.
“Extraordinary,” Guardiola said of De Bruyne’s statistics. “The biggest players love to appear in the biggest stages. It’s the hour of truth when you are in the last 16 of the Champions League and we start well.”
The English champions have now won 11 consecutive games in all competitions as they remain on course to repeat last season’s treble of Champions League, Premier League and FA Cup.
Photo: Reuters
Copenhagen had not played a competitive game for two months since sealing their place in the round-of-16 by dumping out Manchester United and Galatasaray in the group stage.
“They had a great group stage, so we had to respect them,” De Bruyne said. “We started really well, but I think we made one mistake and they pounced on it. We played a really good game. In the second half we created a lot of chances, could have scored more, and luckily in the end we scored the third one, so it is a little bit of an advantage now.”
In Germany, an incredible solo goal from Brahim Diaz secured Real Madrid a 1-0 win away at RB Leipzig in their round-of-16 first leg.
Leipzig were energetic, but wasteful early on, while Madrid goalkeeper Andriy Lunin made numerous saves after the hosts controversially had a goal disallowed for offside.
The German club were made to pay early in the second half when Diaz opened the scoring. Drafted into the side in place of the injured Jude Bellingham, Diaz danced past three Leipzig defenders before curling a shot inside the far post.
“I’m intuitive,” Diaz said of the goal. “I saw Vini [Vinicius Junior] and wanted to give it to him, but in the end I took the shot. It was a nice goal.”
Real Madrid midfielder Toni Kroos praised his teammate, telling Amazon Prime “a piece of individual skill decided the game.”
“If we’re honest, it could have gone in either direction,” he said.
The win was Real Madrid’s seventh in seven games this Champions League campaign and puts them in prime position to make it past the last 16 for the fourth straight season.
“It was an open match,” said Leipzig goalkeeper Peter Gulacsi, contending that “a lucky punch decided the game.”
Madrid traveled to Saxony without England midfielder Bellingham, who injured his ankle in Saturday’s 4-0 win over Girona.
With first-choice centerbacks Antonio Ruediger, David Alaba and Eder Militao ruled out, coach Carlo Ancelotti opted to continue midfielder Aurelien Tchouameni’s stint in central defense.
Despite their injury woes, Real sit five clear in the league and have only lost twice this season in all competitions, both times to city rivals Atletico Madrid.
The hosts thundered out of the blocks and had the ball in the net three minutes in, but the goal was ruled out for a contentious offside, with Benjamin Henrichs deemed to be obstructing the goalkeeper.
Kroos said the wrong decision had been made.
“The goalkeeper would not have got to the ball, so it was a goal,” he said.
Gulacsi told reporters he was “frustrated” by the decision, explaining “1-0 after a couple of minutes could have changed the whole game.”
“We weren’t able to dominate, but we played a good game,” Diaz said. “I’m happy to be able to help the side — we continue to show we’re a great team.”
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