Kevin De Bruyne disclosed that his clever free-kick routine with Julian Alvarez against Burnley was the result of diligent work on the training ground.
What Happened?
De Bruyne surprised Burnley by slipping the ball through the defense from the free-kick instead of shooting or crossing. Alvarez capitalized on the opportunity, scoring for the second time in the eventual 3-1 win over Vincent Kompany’s side.
What De Bruyne said
“Yesterday, we worked on it (the set-piece) a bit,” De Bruyne told TNT Sports. “In the beginning, I didn’t really want to do it but then the guy who was with Julian moved to him a bit, so opened the space for Julian to go into. “I didn’t have to put it around, I just had to put it straight with the right speed, and then Julian does the rest. We practised this yesterday for Burnley but it can work against other teams. You can see Pep is delighted with the staff because if you pull it off, they are happy.”
Debruyne
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Guardiola expressed delight with the goal, rushing from his seat in the dugout to congratulate his assistant coaches Jack Wilson and Carles Vincens.
“Set-pieces are really important in modern football, we won in the FA Cup at Spurs with a corner and today the free-kick. It’s Carles and Jack, I’m not involved in set-pieces, they are better and I don’t have time,” he said. “Kevin had to make the perfect pass and Julian had to make the movement and finish but someone had to say ‘we’re going to do this’ so all credit to Carles and Jack.”
Pep Guardiola
