Kevin De Bruyne says Champions League rivals are wary of Manchester City
Kevin De Bruyne believes Europe’s top sides are wary of the threat of Manchester City in this season’s Champions League.
The Premier League champions underlined their early status as one of the Champions League favourites with a crushing 3-0 victory over Shakhtar Donetsk in Ukraine on Tuesday.
Manager Pep Guardiola described some of City’s football as the best of his tenure but, if it served as a reminder of the club’s power and ambition, De Bruyne feels it is one that was hardly needed.
„I think they [other clubs] are wary of us anyway,“ De Bruyne said. „We lost against Lyon so it was important to recover and now we want to be first in the group. There are still three games to go and we have work still to do.
„We just try to win every game and see where that takes us but there are about 10 teams who could win it.“
City’s victory on Tuesday – secured with goals from David Silva, Aymeric Laporte and Bernardo Silva – took them above Lyon to the top of Group F.
They are now well on course for a place in the last 16 ahead of Shakhtar’s return visit to the Etihad Stadium in a fortnight.
Although David Silva – who also hit the woodwork twice as City registered 24 shots – was the star of the show, De Bruyne also looked at ease.
The match was his first start of the season after two months out with a knee injury, and De Bruyne said: „I prefer to play than be on the sidelines, that’s for sure.
„I’ve worked hard to get back as quickly as possible and then you try to get back with the rhythm of the team. It went well with the injury. There were not a lot of complications. I’ve worked hard to be back and I’m happy to be here.“
De Bruyne did not go as far as Guardiola in hailing the performance, however.
He said: „We play so many games that it’s difficult to say that. Each game has different aspects. We should have scored more but to go away from here with a 3-0 victory is good.“
City, the current Premier League leaders, are next in action on Monday – live on Sky Sports Premier League – as they face Tottenham at Wembley.
The match was originally scheduled for Saturday at Spurs’ new stadium but – with that ground not ready – it was switched. It had to be staged on Monday because Wembley is hosting NFL at the weekend.
That has raised concerns over what state the pitch will be in and De Bruyne admits it could be tough.
Asked if he had played on an American football pitch before, he said: „Yes, in pre-season. It’s not nice, it’s going to be difficult.
„I’m not sure how it’s going to be. We hope it will be OK and we can play like we normally do. These games are the most important ones. We have to go and show our intent to stay on the top.
„They’ll try to do the same because they are close [to us]. It’s a big one.“
Soccer Accumulator Bonus
Our fantastic Euro Soccer accumulator offer gives you the chance to earn a bonus of up to 100% on accumulators on the top domestic leagues in Europe along with the group and knockout stages of the Champions League.
This offer applies to returns on pre-match accumulators of 3 or more selections on Full Time Result or Result/Both Teams To Score markets for the English Premier League, Italian Serie A, Spanish Primera Liga, German Bundesliga 1 or UEFA Champions League.
The maximum bonus that you can receive is ˆ100,000 or currency equivalent. The bonus will not apply where a stake has been fully Cashed Out. Where a stake has been partially Cashed Out, the bonus will be calculated based .on the remaining active stake. If a qualifying bet is edited .using our Edit Bet feature. The bonus will be calculated based on the new stake. Where a bet has been edited to include or amend a selection for an event that is In-Play, the bonus will no longer apply. Double Chance bets or combination bets with bonuses. Such as Lucky 15’s or Lucky .31’s do not apply for this offer.
If your bet is successful, we will add the following bonuses to your returns:
Bet Type Bonus
14-folds and upwards 100% bonus
Terms and Conditions
Applies to straight pre-match accumulator bets on the Full Time Result or Result/Both Teams To Score markets for UEFA Champions League, English Premier League, Italian Serie A, Spanish Primera Liga, German Bundesliga .1 or Australian A-League matches. Maximum bonus ˆ100,000 or currency equivalent. Soccer Accumulator Bonus does not apply to Double Chance bets or combination. bets with bonuses such as Lucky 15’s, Lucky 31’s etc.
If any selections are postponed/void then the bonus will still apply, but the percentage bonus added will reflect the actual number of winning selections. For example, an 8-fold accumulator with 7. winners and 1 postponed match will receive a 30% .bonus to returns.
The bonus part of your returns will be added to your account within 24 hours of your final selection having played.
This bonus will not apply where a stake has been fully Cashed Out. Where a stake has been partially Cashed Out, the bonus will be calculated based on the remaining active stake.
If a qualifying bet is edited using our Edit Bet feature, the bonus will be calculated based on the new stake. Where a bet has been edited to include or amend a selection for an event that is In-Play, the bonus will no longer apply.
Where any term of the offer or promotion is breached or there is any evidence of a series of bets placed by a customer or group of customers, which due to a deposit bonus, enhanced payments, free bets, risk free bets or any other promotional offer results in guaranteed customer profits irrespective of the outcome, whether individually or as part of a group, bet365 reserves the right to reclaim the bonus element of such offers and in their absolute discretion either settle bets at the correct odds, void the free and risk free. bets or void any bet funded by the deposit bonus.
In addition bet365 .reserve the right to levy an administration charge on the customer up to the value of the deposit bonus, free bet, risk free bet or additional payment to cover administrative costs. We further reserve the right to ask any customer to provide sufficient documentation for us to be satisfied in our absolute discretion as to the customer’s identity prior to us crediting any bonus, free bet, risk free bet or offer to their account.
All bet365 offers are intended for recreational players and bet365 may in its sole discretion limit the eligibility of customers to participate in all or part of any promotion.
.
