Kevin De Bruyne, who on Wednesday night assisted against Burnley, talked about the team’s set-piece training.
Midweek saw the 32-year-old lead Manchester City for the first time since August as the team defeated Vincent Kompany’s Burnley 3-1 at the Etihad Stadium in the Premier League.
De Bruyne played for 70 minutes on Wednesday night as he continues to heal from hamstring surgery. He last started in the rematch match at Turf Moor.
Julian Alvarez celebrated his 24th birthday with a fantastic brace, bringing his total number of goals scored this season to 15; the midfielder was instrumental in Manchester City’s second goal against the Clarets.
After linking up with De Bruyne for a deft set-piece routine, Alvarez scored the first goal with a beautiful header and then doubled the Blues’ lead.
The ball was skillfully passed into Alvarez’s path by De Bruyne, fooling Burnley’s defence and enabling the City striker to blast past James Trafford to increase the Cityzens’ advantage in the 22nd minute.
De Bruyne said after the game that the free-kick routine had been discussed in training. Last week, Manchester City defeated Spurs in the FA Cup, and they had also scored from a set-piece in that game.
“We worked on it yesterday,” said De Bruyne.
“I wasn’t too excited about doing it. However, Julian Alvarez’s defender moved into the middle. He then made room for them to enter. All I had to do was state the truth at the appropriate pace.
The ball was skillfully passed into Alvarez’s path by De Bruyne, fooling Burnley’s defence and enabling the City striker to blast past James Trafford to increase the Cityzens’ advantage in the 22nd minute.
De Bruyne said after the game that the free-kick routine had been discussed in training. Last week, Manchester City defeated Spurs in the FA Cup, and they had also scored from a set-piece in that game.
“We worked on it yesterday,” said De Bruyne.
“I wasn’t too excited about doing it. However, Julian Alvarez’s defender moved into the middle. He then made room for them to enter. All I had to do was state the truth at the appropriate pace.