Belgium pretty convincingly exacted revenge on England in the UEFA Nations League last night.The Red Devils were desperately unlucky to emerge from the reverse fixture at Wembley Stadium empty-handed, succumbing to a turnaround featuring Marcus Rashford and Mason Mount strikes.And while England did threaten once again in fits and starts on Sunday night, FIFA's number one ranked side wasted no time asserting their authority in Brussels.
Belgium 2-0 England
Besides, there were less than 10 minutes on the clock when Leicester City's Youri Tielemans fired the home side into an early lead, finding the net via the post from outside the penalty area.
Belgium's second strike also came from beyond the 18-yard box with Dries Mertens curling a beautiful free-kick over the England wall and outside of Jordan Pickford's reach.
Standing alongside Mertens when he whipped home that delicious set-piece strike was Manchester City's Kevin De Bruyne, who is something of a free-kick specialist himself.
Quiet night for De Bruyne
And although De Bruyne wasn't needed to produce a moment of magic on this occasion, the holder of the PFA Player of the Year award was sure to busy himself during the 2-0 regardless.
That's despite the fact De Bruyne was actually named as Belgium's weakest midfielder or attacker against England, picking up an average 6.6 rating by his standards on WhoScored.com.
The City man was clocked as having taken a single shot, executed one tackle, won a lone aerial duel and maintained a 71% pass success rate.
De Bruyne's astonishing pass
It's not a performance that sets the world alight, let's be honest here, but when you're a player as talented as De Bruyne, you're never too far away from producing a moment of pure brilliance.
And that was exactly the case during Belgium vs England as De Bruyne, valued at £108 million on transfermarkt, reminded everybody why he's the best passer in world football right now.
That's because the 29-year-old drew plaudits across social media for an outrageous diagonal ball without the outside of his foot, which you can check out in all its glory down below:
It's no wonder Liverpool legend Jamie Carragher just came out with: 'Oh what a pass!' when he saw it on Sky Sports commentary, before reiterating its quality with a 'pffttt' when the replays showed.
Best passer in the world
You know we're talking about a special player when they have a pretty average performance, but still pop up with a piece of skill that gets thousands and thousands of fans applauding.
Across 2020 as a whole, I think you've got to say that De Bruyne has been the Premier League's best player, coming within a whisker of the assists record by turning provider 20 times in 2019/20.
As a result, he was more than deserving of the PFA Award despite Liverpool having ran away with the title thanks to some superb performances from Jordan Henderson and Sadio Mane.
Has De Bruyne been as impressive this season? Absolutely not, but perhaps his gentle reminder to everybody of his class vs England shows that his best form will be hitting our screens very soon.