During the week, Brendan Rodgers claimed he was keen for Erling Haaland to play but when news broke Haaland was not in Manchester City’s match-day squad Rodgers admitted he was practically “sliding on his knees” in celebration.
The sight of City’s players not on their knees, but their backs at the end of these gruelling 90 minutes showed how much effort they had to put in to win without their Viking figurehead. And they couldn’t have done so without Kevin De Bruyne.
For long periods, Pep Guardiola’s team looked almost ordinary without Haaland. Almost, but not entirely because their exceptional Belgian was on the pitch and De Bruyne was the difference, not just scoring the solitary goal with an absolute artwork of a free kick
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