Since joining Man City, Erling Haaland has quickly become the star of the team. But do not forget the soul of the Green Man is still Kevin De Bruyne.
Haaland was not on the registration list when Man City was a guest at Leicester. The Norwegian striker was injured and was released early in the second half of Man City’s 0-0 draw with Dortmund in the Champions League in midweek.
Pep revealed that the striker appeared tired and had problems with his legs. “I pulled Haaland out for three things,” Pep revealed after the match against Dortmund. “First, I find him tired. Second, he has a fever. Third, Haaland has a leg problem.”
Before the match against Leicester in the 14th round of the Premier League, Pep also admitted that Haaland’s situation had improved but did not risk the striker playing.
Haaland has scored more Premier League goals than any other player this season. The Norwegian striker has scored 17 goals, while Harry Kane has only 10 goals and Aleksandar Mitrovic has 9 goals. In addition, Haaland also scored 4 goals in the Champions League this season.
Without Haaland, Man City’s attack had a lot of trouble finding the way to the goal of the opponent’s goalkeeper. But in the midst of difficulties, De Bruyne shone to fill Man City’s nostalgia for Haaland.
In the first half, the Belgian created a magical moment when he made an unbelievable back pass to Bernardo Silva but unfortunately his teammate was unable to score.
And early in the second half, De Bruyne continued to leave his mark with a superb free-kick to put Man City ahead at the King Power Stadium.
De Bruyne’s free kick has an extremely accurate trajectory. The ball hit the inside edge of the post before it went into the net, leaving Leicester goalkeeper Danny Ward with absolutely no chance to save.
It was De Bruyne’s goal that helped Man City beat Leicester City 1-0 to get 29 points after 12 matches and temporarily take the top of the Premier League table from Arsenal (29 points, 11 matches) before the Gunners welcomed. Nottingham Forest at 9pm on October 30.
According to OptaJoe’s statistics, of the players who have scored 50 or more goals in the English Premier League, only David Beckham (55%) and Christian Eriksen (44%) have a percentage of goals from outside the box. higher than De Bruyne (42%).
Leicester’s goal last night was the 25th goal that the Belgian midfielder has scored from long shots outside the box of 16m50 of his 60 goals in the Premier League.
Since the start of the 2017/18 season, this has been 19 goals and no one in the league has had as many goals in the same period.
If only counting the number of goals from free kicks, De Bruyne currently has 5 goals in the Premier League. This number is much more than many free kick experts in the history of the tournament such as Kieran Tripper, Trent Alexnader-Arnold, James Milner, Yaya Toure or Carlos Tevez (with 4 goals).
Witnessing De Bruyne’s perfect free-kick to help Man City win on Leicester’s field, his teammate Haaland also felt speechless in amazement and admiration.
On his personal Twitter page, the Norwegian striker attached a hashtag with the name Kevin De Bruyne next to the smiley face icon with 2 hearts on his eyes to implicitly praise the Belgian player.
After the game, De Bruyne also made a remarkable statement and mentioned Haaland: “We often talk about Ederson’s ability to distribute the ball but he is an excellent goalkeeper.
With or without Haaland, it is still very difficult to face a team with all 11 players. We have proven that we can win with or without Haaland.”
De Bruyne’s spokesman pointed out that Man City is not dependent on Haaland even though the Norwegian striker is the main striker at the Etihad this season. Winning on the 9th day of absence is essential to prove Man City’s bravery.
If Haaland is still being called by many people by the nickname “Monster”, De Bruyne deserves to be praised as an “alien”.
