Erling Haaland is finally giving Kevin De Bruyne what he deserves at Man City

For years, Kevin De Bruyne has seen a number of sumptuous balls into the box go begging with either nobody there or poor finishing from his teammates to deny him a clutch of assists. The Belgian has still developed his reputation as the best footballer in England but his numbers have not been as high as they could have been.

Enter Erling Haaland, the goalscoring phenomenon who became just the fourth player in Champions League history to score on his debut for three teams when he netted his 24th goal in 20 appearances in the competition and 11th in seven games for City. Haaland is so good that even when De Bruyne doesn't play that well - and he didn't really against Sevilla - an assist is never far away whenever the ball can be whipped into the box.

It took a mention of Manuel Akanji to get Pep Guardiola interested in his pre-match TV interview, with his face lighting up at the mention of his new signing. Akanji has been signed to provide defensive cover and has been needed immediately with City defenders falling down left, right, and centre.

Also read: Man City player ratings vs Sevilla

Akanji made his debut with a Champions League start against Sevilla and slotted into the City team like he had been playing in it for four seasons. At £15m, it already looks like another terrific bit of business because Sevilla are no mugs.

However, Guardiola's pre-match comments suggested that Nathan Ake could come back in for the Tottenham game on Saturday as he spoke of Akanji playing in part to protect other players for future fixtures. If so, that would be an admission from the manager that the Premier League trumps the Champions League in importance for this week.

This result may not have sent any shockwaves around Europe but