Man City news: Kevin De Bruyne gives Liverpool Champions League verdict ahead of Man Utd

KEVIN DE BRUYNE says Manchester City will need a “special night” to turn round their Champions League quarter-final against Liverpool.
The Belgium international admits City have left themselves a huge task after crashing 3-0 in the first leg at Anfield last night but insists the tiei s not over yet.

And De Bruyne says clinching the Premier League title in the Manchester derby on Saturday will give them a huge boost for Tuesday’s re-match with Jurgen Klopp’s team.

“It’s going to be difficult but it’s not impossible,“ he said. “You never know. The way this team plays, everything is possible. I have confidence in this team and the way we play but it’s going to need something special.

“We need to focus on the derby on Saturday first and then we will try everything in our power to get a result against Liverpool.

“They are going to be the big favourites but I think we have played a lot of games where it was possible to score three goals so why not? But obviously they have a big advantage.”
Goals from De Bruyne’s rival for the Player of the Year award, Mo Salah, Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain and Sadio Mane in a 19-minute spell in the first half stunned Pep Guardiola’s champions-elect but De Bruyne took encouragement from City’s dominant second half performance, even though they failed to manage an attempt on target for the first time this season.

“I don’t think we played bad,” he added. ““It was OK but if you lose 3-0 people are not going to say that. We started really well and they hit us on the counter attack and that is what they do best. for the first goal.



“They scored three goals out of four chances. And then becomes difficult. I think the way we reacted in the second half is good – not that we created that much.

“In the end, offensively we could be a little bit better but that’s the way it goes. They have a big advantage but there’s another 90 minutes and you never what’s going to happen in football. We have a lot of confidence in our qualities so we’ll see. If they go through and they deserve it, that’s the way.”

De Bruyne says City were not fazed by Liverpool fans pelting their team bus with missiles on the way to Anfield.
“I’ve seen things like this before. It happens. I don’t think it’s something bad. Obviously it’s not nice if you see windows breaking that’s not a good thing. But I think if supporters do that without being violent then I think it’s okay.”
And he hopes City fans can create the same raucous, intimidating atmosphere as the Liverpool crowd did inside Anfield for the first leg.

“A big atmosphere would be nice obviously. It’s difficult because the circumstances are different but we will be up for it. Probably they got a lot of inspiration from their fans. Hopefully we can have the same on Tuesday.

“First we must rest, then play on Saturday. Hopefully we can do well and win it. The schedule is tough. It’s been like this all season so I don’t why it would be different now.”

Source:www.express.co.uk