Pep Guardiola Reveals Why He Had A Disagreement With Kevin De Bruyne In The Match Against Real Madrid
Written By Onyeka Daniel
Yesterday, English Premier League side, Manchester City secured their place in this season’s final of the UCL where they will be facing Italian side, Inter Milan at the Istanbul stadium in Turkey.
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They defeated LaLiga giants, Real Madrid 4-0 at the Etihad stadium, scoring two goals apiece in each half to get their revenge over the Los Blancos from last season when the Spanish side defeated them at the semi-final to go and lift the trophy and City will be hoping they can also replicate that this season.
But there’s one detail in the match that eluded the attention of most people, an argument between Pep Guardiola and Kevin De Bruyne after the Belgian had lost possession of the ball.
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Guardiola lost his cool with his talismanic midfielder at one point during the second half as the Belgian playmaker squandered possession. Having been dispossessed by Eder Militao, De Bruyne is then seen gesturing and shouting in anger towards the City dugout. The camera then cuts to the flexed figure of Guardiola, who was rebuking his player for not ‘passing the ball’.
After the game, when asked about the incident, Guardiola replied: “At 2-0 we rushed a lot. Right after the break [Ilkay] Gundogan lost a ball, Kevin made three transitions that weren’t necessary and we rushed a lot when we had to do the opposite, sink them and turn them, sink them and turn them. But it’s normal. It gets close, you rush, and it has cost us more, although in general we have had an extraordinary game.”
It may be source of worry for City as this is not the first time that auch incident would be happening. In the game against Newcastle United in early March, Guardiola had to substitute De Bruyne as he was wasteful in possession in that game.
His substitute, Bernardo Silva came on and grabbed City’s all important second goal to ensure all three points for City. Guardiola in his pist match conference tried to play down the incident instead;
“Kevin, always the standards of Kevin are the sky. Everyone knows his level. In one week he has an opportunity to show his quality, delighted for the victory we had, this is what we have to do. Come back to principles, work hard. Everything will come back without any effort. Just do it your usual quality, your best.” He said.
The former Barcelona coach is one who is known to not tolerate players that question his judgement as was seen with the likes of Yaya Toure and Zlatan Ibrahimovic, but he always had a soft spot for Lionel Messi.
Perhaps, he has the same for De Bruyne too who has been of immense value to the Cityzens across his eight years at the Etihad Stadium, helping City to four Premier League titles and himself to back-to-back PFA Player of the Year awards and also about to help them win the famous treble (EPL title, UCL title and the FA Cup) this season.
Meanwhile…
Newcastle United are prepared to make a move for Barcelona winger, Raphinha in the summer, on the understanding that they eventually manage to clinch a top four place at the end of the season. The Brazilian joined Barcelona from Leeds United for around €58million last summer.
He snubbed interest from Chelsea after they had a bid accepted by their Premier League rivals. Arsenal made two offers to sign Raphinha, but neither were accepted by the Whites as the player reportedly held out for a move to Barcelona.
Read Also: It’s Now Or Never For Pep Guardiola And Manchester City In The UEFA Champions League
His first season at the Nou Camp has not been very successful, but it would be extremely harsh to say the 26-year-old has flopped. In 31 appearances in La Liga, Raphinha has scored seven goals and provided six assists.
His exit from the club could be forced as Barcelona are reportedly open to selling two or three first-team players in order to raise some funds to improve the club’s dire financial situation and Raphinha is one of the names being mentioned.
The Magpies will definitely have the financial power to carry out the move if they make the top four and they would definitely want to improve their squad for the return to European football after a long time out.
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