Manchester City 1-0 Wolves: Kevin De Bruyne scored the only goal of the match to help Pep Guardiola's side edge closer to Champions League qualification despite a largely not convincing representation
It was not the very cleanest strikes, but it typified the career-long work of one of the best players to adorn the Premier League.
Calm, composed, smart, minimum of hassle. It remains difficult to believe that Kevin De Bruyne can walk away from Etihad. His body will be 34 at the end of next month, but his football brain remains beautifully clear.
In his memorandum announced his farewell trip, De Bruyne said he made his mission to ensure that the participation of the City's Champions League continued next season. And this goal can be decisive in that challenge.
Prior to the game, comments from a Brazilian broadcaster suggested that Guardiola would take a break from management when his Etihad contract ends in 2027. He later clarified his comments and said he would take a break when his time was over with the city.
Well, when that may be, there are no signs that he is quickly ready for a rest. Mind you, his enthusiasm must have been tested by the early parts of this competition.
It is sufficient to say, the home fans who protest by staying on the competitions for the first six minutes of the game – and there were many – should have stayed there for a while. They were terrible things, especially from the men of Guardiola, who looked like they were organized a go-Slow protest herself.
They should have been a gloomy first half halfway, but inexplicably Nelson Semedo Marshall Munetsi tried to convert a simple opportunity. And a few minutes later, Rayan Ait-Nouri hit a post and let his follow-up effort free up the line of Josko Gvardiol.
More than half an hour had passed before the city gathered an attempt from a note, Jose Sa helped Nico O'Reilly's shot over the bar. But shortly thereafter City was ahead. Jeremy Doku had been their brightest spark and after winning ball-winning work by Bernardo Silva, the Belgian winger passed Matt Doherty and his reverse pass was persuaded by one of the coolest side feet the Premier League has seen.
And only a few minutes after the restart there was a snapshot of why De Bruyne is so loved in these parts when he went back with the determination that should be the holding of younger men. He certainly seemed more energetic than some of his teammates, whose Lethargie got stuck in the second half.
And when nobody closed him, the striking Cunha bustled a strike against Edererson's upright. It was a post-shaking sign that wolves would be extremely dangerous to enter the last quarter of the game
And Guardiola could feel the nervousness among his players, and sent Manuel Akanji to O'Reilly, who was not the only one who gives possession with alarming frequency. Even in this relatively disappointing season, it was still rare to see City so carefully, so carefully.
But the bet is high. The idea that Guardiola could at least one of the remaining two seasons of his city contract, not in the Champions League, is unthinkable. Fortunately for him, he still has – just about – a player whose absence of these parts is indeed unthinkable next season.
Kevin De Bruyne, irreplaceable.
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