You got the impression that both Manchester City and Liverpool were happy to head into the international break with a share of the spoils following their clash at the Etihad.After a pulsating first half, the two sides appeared to settle for a 1-1 draw after the break with neither taking too many chances.Of course, City had the best opportunity to win the match through Kevin de Bruyne’s penalty just before half time.De Bruyne’s cross was blocked by Joe Gomez’s arm and, after consulting the VAR monitor, Kevin Friend pointed to the penalty spot.De Bruyne stepped up and dragged his penalty wide to the shock of pretty much everyone.
The midfielder became the first player to miss the target with a penalty since Riyad Mahrez did the same against Liverpool all the way back in October 2018.After the match, an old video of De Bruyne as a young child admitting he was a Liverpool fan and that his favourite player is Michael Owen resurfaced.
But it wasn’t just his missed penalty that De Bruyne will be disappointed with. In truth, the best midfielder in the Premier League had a rather poor game.
Manchester Evening News gave him a 6/10 but a video has emerged that suggests that was rather generous.
The two-minute video, which is being shared on Twitter, shows De Bruyne give the ball away on numerous occasions as he struggled to show his quality against the champions.
Check it out:
Brutal.
We all know that De Bruyne is world-class and, fortunately, he doesn’t produce too many performances like this one. We shouldn’t be too harsh on him but it’s nice to know he’s human after all.
The draw leaves City on 12 points after seven matches as they sit 10th in the league table.
It’s certainly not been an easy start for Pep Guardiola’s side who have now won just three of their league matches.
Their one defeat came at the hands of Leicester as they were thrashed 5-2 at the Etihad. As well as drawing 1-1 to Liverpool, they’ve also failed to beat West Ham and Leeds by the same scoreline.
But during wins against Wolves, Arsenal and Sheffield United, we’ve seen glimpses of the qualities this City side possess.
They face a trip to Tottenham after the international break so it’ll be interesting if we see the real De Bruyne and City then…