Kevin De Bruyne insists Manchester City need their ‘A game’ for Bayern Munich
By Andy Hampson, PA
Kevin De Bruyne claims Manchester City will still need to take their “A game” to Germany to reach the Champions League semi-finals this week.
City appear to have one foot in the last four after an impressive 3-0 win over Bayern Munich in the first leg of their quarter-final tie.
Yet playmaker De Bruyne is taking nothing for granted ahead of Wednesday’s return encounter and is approaching the game as he would any other.
“It’s still got a long way to go,” the Belgian said. “It’s not like 50 minutes to go and you might cover up a bit. It’s 95 minutes and a lot can happen.
“You’ve heard of crazy scores in many games so we’ll have to bring our ‘A’ game.
“I don’t think we speculate about keeping ahead, we just play the game we know how to play.
“We start again and we know it’s going to be hard. Going to Bayern, they have a lot of quality but we’d rather have three ahead than the opposite.”
De Bruyne showed his frustration when he was substituted by manager Pep Guardiola during the first leg.
“It happens in the moment,” he said. “I want to play every game and I feel really good.
“I’ve had no injuries and been fit every game. That’s it.”
De Bruyne was back on the field as City eased to a 3-1 win over Leicester in the Premier League on Saturday.
Erling Haaland scored twice to take his overall tally for the season to a remarkable 47.
.@KevinDeBruyne 🤝 @ErlingHaaland
What a duo! 😍 pic.twitter.com/Yni3HR1IRL— Manchester City (@ManCity) April 15, 2023
De Bruyne created the Norwegian’s second goal with a defence-splitting through ball and their partnership is proving a huge success.
De Bruyne said: “Obviously he is really sharp and his movement is excellent, and his touch is mostly really, really good.
“He is there at the right times. You know it is a little bit different to what he is used to at Dortmund or Salzburg but we have been dealing with that a lot, and if you are patient you will get your chance.”
