'We can win without Haaland' – Kevin De Bruyne assesses City's performance after stunning goal against Leicester
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Updated 29/10/2022 at 14:20 GMT
There was plenty of talk about how Manchester City would fare without Erling Haaland after the Norwegian striker was out of his side's squad due to illness and a knock. But Pep Guardiola's men got the job done, with Kevin De Bruyne scoring a fantastic goal from a set-piece in the second-half. Guardiola and Leicester's James Maddison also gave their thoughts on the match.
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Kevin De Bruyne has claimed that his side have shown they have the quality to win matches without Erling Haaland after his goal was the decider in Manchester City’s 1-0 victory over Leicester City.
Haaland was taken off at half-time against Borussia Dortmund in the Champions League on Tuesday, and Pep Guardiola had said that the striker had a fever and a knock which prevented him from travelling with the squad.
However, De Bruyne’s magnificent long-range goal from a free-kick was all that City needed to collect the three points at the King Power Stadium. Five minutes later, at the other end, Ederson made a superb save to deny Youri Tielemans.
Speaking to BT Sport after the match, De Bruyne said: "We made it difficult for ourselves; we were a bit tired. They were very negative for 70 minutes, but then their changes made it a different game. We didn't keep the ball in their half, but we still could have scored a second.
"The free-kick goes perfectly, luckily, it's 1-0. Ederson has been great. Sometimes we only talk about his distribution, but he's a great keeper, and he proves it every week.
"We have proved we can win with or without Erling Haaland."
Guardiola had full praise for the Belgian midfielder, saying: “Kevin de Bruyne is back. He was not playing good the last few games, but today he was amazing. He knows it. There was no space today, we had to be patient."
"They [Leicester City] changed it, and it was a difficult game because they had 10 players so deep, and it's so difficult.
"After we scored the goal, they changed their rhythm, and in the Premier League, the last few minutes are always difficult. It's a massive victory for us.
Leicester City’s James Maddison said that his side were pushing for an equaliser until the last minute, but it just wasn’t enough.
"We were pushing at the end, when you play City, you have to take your medicine. There are times when you don't touch the ball for 10 minutes, but that's what happens against arguably the best team in the world,” he said to BT Sport.
"The difference was a moment of brilliance from the best player in the Premier League.
“The last 20 minutes, we had two strikers and had chances, but we ran out of time.
"Pep was asking me at the end why we didn't play like that for the whole game, but he knows it's not that simple!"
Manchester City will host Sevilla up next in the Champions League, having already qualified for the knockouts, while Leicester will head to Merseyside to take on Everton in the Premier League.
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