Kevin De Bruyne lived up to Pep Guardiola's unexpected claim during Man City classic with Real Madrid

De Bruyne's sense of timing

When Pep Guardiola was talking about the absence of Kevin De Bruyne and Erling Haaland earlier this season he struck upon a fascinating way to describe the pair. Guardiola insisted they didn't necessarily make Manchester City play better, but they did "help us to win games".

“When one player scores 60 goals it helps you to win games. When you have a player with a thousand million assists and goals it helps you win games," he said.

De Bruyne isn't the player scoring 60 goals but he scored the one that should have mattered at the Etihad against Real Madrid. He also didn't make City play any better.

In fact, this was another night that suggested his powers are on the wane. There were crosses both underhit and overhit, a right-footed volley sliced out of play, and a general struggle to make the most of the possession he saw. There was the sense he was searching for that flicker of genius that still exists within the 33-year-old's game.

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He showed us it was still there just 11 days ago at Crystal Palace, but these days it doesn't just come at the flick of a switch. It isn't as natural as it once was. But he's almost impossible to ignore in these games. He drove City forward at the Etihad at this stage of last season and did so again against Real.

Jack Grealish had a more effective game than De Bruyne, but he was replaced by Jeremy Doku. When Antonio Rudiger failed to properly clear Doku's low cross, De Bruyne took a touch and smashed a shot into the roof of the net.

He came alive from that point. A left-footed shot was feathered over the bar by Andriy Lunin and the Belgian then missed an excellent