De Bruyne’s impact goes beyond football, says Pep | OneFootball

Pep Guardiola was delighted to see Kevin De Bruyne gain the plaudits in City’s 1-0 win over Wolves but insists the Belgian’s legacy goes beyond what he does on the pitch.

The midfielder fired home the only goal of the game at the Etihad Stadium to move the Blues up to third in the Premier League for at least 24 hours.

In doing so, De Bruyne became only the second player to register 250 goal contributions under Guardiola, the other being Lionel Messi.

But the boss was keen to highlight that the Belgian – embarking on his tenth and final season at City - will be remembered for so much more than his outstanding ability on the pitch.

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Speaking about De Bruyne’s match-winning moment, Guardiola said: “It was really good. We saw against [Crystal] Palace, when we were 2-0 down, his goal lifted us and gave us the momentum to come back.

“His contribution is massive. There are players like Sergio [Aguero], like him, like Vinnie [Kompany] in the heart of the people.

“It’s not just titles and numbers, it’s affection and love and passion.

“All of us have been one decade here, helping us to win absolutely everything and still he’s here.”

City were also boosted by the return of Erling Haaland to the matchday squad for the first time in over a month.

The Norwegian didn’t end up featuring for the Blues, but Guardiola admits he did consider bringing on our leading scorer.

“Yeah, I thought about that, but I decided for energy in the last moments when Nico [Gonzalez], Phil [Foden], Macca [James McAtee] and Rico Lewis come up, we were in another rhythm in terms of pressing.

MATCH REPORT: CITY 1-0 WOLVES

“I think we missed some intensity with pressing up front with Gundo [Ilkay Gundogan] and with Kevin [De Bruyne].

“It’s normal for the quality they have, but they play now.

“[Haaland had] just two training sessions with us and in that moment I decided for the other type of players.”