The Kevin De Bruyne goals that are re-defining Man City greatness

Kevin De Bruyne always maintained that he enjoyed setting up goals more than he did scoring them - which partly explains why he has set assists records in both the Bundesliga and Premier League. But the Manchester City ace is on course for the highest goal tally of his career as the Blues approach the sharp end of the season, and could end up with more goals than assists for the first time since his 2015-16 debut season.

More importantly than that, De Bruyne has developed a healthy knack of scoring those goals at important moments in big games, just as he did with the winner in the first leg of the Champions League quarter-final against Atletico Madrid last night.

That was his 13th goal of the season, putting him just three short of his highest total of 16 in a season, which he racked up in 2019-20 and also for Wolfsburg in 2014-15. He has also scored in his last three games to keep City on course for a potential Treble - a penalty to put City ahead at Southampton in the FA Cup, the early opener at Burnley in the Premier League and then the winner against Atleti.

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Scoring in big games has become a speciality, and the more he matures, the more often he seems to seize the moment in those crunch fixtures. Guardiola said after De Bruyne’s clinical strike past Jan Oblak: “He is in the best moment of the season right now - he is sharp, quick and positive. His influence in our game is massive. He made an exceptional goal with the combination with Phil.”

But De Bruyne has been a regular go-to man when a goal was a necessity, scoring the first two goals in the 4-1 Manchester derby win, arcing in a gorgeous winner against Chelsea, and netting the crucial equaliser in