Manchester City’s attacking players ran rings around Man United’s defence in first leg of the Carabaro Cup semi-final, claiming a comfortable 3-1 victory. The Cityzens opted to go in with a false nine strategy, with manager Pep Guardiola keeping strikers Sergio Aguero and Gabriel Jesus on the bench, with Portuguese playmaker Bernardo Silva leading the line.
Bernardo was unstoppable on the night, scoring a belter in the opening minutes and then put in a brilliant through pass to Riyad Mahrez who rounded the goalkeeper to make it 2-0. Another midfielder who performed brilliantly for the reigning champions was Kevin De Bruyne, who dribbled past Phil Jones with ease to setup the third goal on his 200th appearance in England.
Happy to win the derby in my 200th game for city pic.twitter.com/oV6EgFILBq
— Kevin De Bruyne (@DeBruyneKev) January 8, 2020
The Belgian midfielder revealed in the post match press conference that his side practiced on tactics for only 15 minutes. “We did 15 minutes on Tuesday morning. That’s about it. I think overall we played well. The second half they tried to put a bit more pressure on us and we made one mistake and they scored from it,” revealed De Bruyne.
“We didn’t train that (on Monday), but it’s not like we never did it before – we did it sometimes against teams that prefer to play man-against-man – Cardiff, United, in Barcelona away we did it the first year with Pep, so we’ve done it a couple of times,” added the Belgian.
Kevin De Bruyne’s answer had Twitter in splits, with many fans equating that statement to be an invitation to mock Manchester United’s performance in that game and their decline in this decade. Ole Gunnar Solskjaer’s side offered little in the Carabao Cup semi-final, and were totally taken aback Manchester City’s strategy and formation.
Here’s a look at some of the best tweets regarding De Bruyne’s comments.
I think the most disrespectful football player right now on and off the pitch is Kevin De Bruyne.
— Don P. Julio (@PatrickJnr) January 9, 2020
According to various reports, Kevin De Bruyne sent Phil Jones back to Blackburn. Spotted him yet, @muneebmakba ?
— Adil Lambat (@Adil_mufc18783) January 8, 2020
Kevin De Bruyne says Manchester City spent just 15 minutes preparing the false-nine tactics that helped to blow Manchester United away in the first half of Tuesday's Carabao Cup tie.
— Roy Biakpara (@RBiakpara) January 8, 2020
Me: gulp😳
Photo courtesy: Paul Ellis/ AFP
