Kevin De Bruyne was the star man during Manchester City's 4-0 win over Liverpool.The announcer at the Etihad Stadium might have declared Raheem Sterling as the Man of the Match winner, but De Bruyne was the player most deserving of the accolade in our books.The Belgian got the thrashing underway by converting from the penalty spot for City's opener, before turning provider for the third goal courtesy of Phil Foden just before half-time.And he can count himself unlucky not to have bagged a second assist with Sterling's second strike actually going down as an own goal from Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain.Regardless of the headline statistics, though, anybody who was watching De Bruyne in full flow knows he was the best player on the pitch and it certainly wasn't lost on the Sky pundits.
Praise for De Bruyne
"I am running out of superlatives to talk about him," Micah Richards said live on air. "He just affects every game that he plays. He was the best player on the pitch again."
While Gary Neville summed up his brilliance by remarking: "You think he can't squeeze it through. It is so good watching him play."
It all comes in a week where Danny Murphy argued against City giving Liverpool a guard of honour because Jurgen Klopp's squad weren't fit to lace the boots of De Bruyne.
De Bruyne's individual highlights
And while we have problems with that statement more generally, there's no denying that De Bruyne was a class above his rivals on Thursday in particular.
Plus, for our money, he's most deserving of the PFA Player of the Year award than Liverpool contenders such as Mohamed Salah, Sadio Mane and Jordan Henderson.
But before we get sidetracked too much, let's not allow De Bruyne's superb performance to escape our minds and Twitter user @ojbcomps put it all together in a two-minute compilation.
From penetrating passes to Dennis Bergkamp-esque touches, it really is football at its most beautiful, so check out the full video down below:
League's best player
The best player in the Premier League, no doubt about it.
There's a real feeling that seeing Liverpool winning the title that City had romped to twice in a row has given Pep Guardiola's players the motivation they've been lacking.
So, yes, there's nothing but positives to take from winning a first league title in 30 years, but make no mistake that it's poked the hornet's test in a way that could come back to sting for Liverpool.
City and particularly De Bruyne could take some serious beating in 2020/21.