The Battle of King Hill between Manchester City and Liverpool was gripping, with a 90-minute fierce battle to a 2-2 draw, and the two league conversations this season were hand-in-hand, and it was difficult to score points. The Suspense of the Premier League title may not be revealed until the 38th round.
Players from both teams are worth as much as 1.86 billion euros, and almost all the starting positions are the top players in active competition. But if Brother Meow says that there is a player on the field who is significantly higher than others, I think everyone will not object.
That's right, last night the stars shone alone in De Bruyne. Tintin once again played a career masterpiece, scoring goals, organizing a catch, and was elected the official best of the game.
If it weren't for Manchester City strikers Such as Sterling, Jesus, Mahrez and others who indulged in happy football and failed de Braune's wonderful passes again and again, how could Tintin have only exchanged 62 threatening passes this season for three assists. The 2-2 balance may have been broken long ago.
In the opening four minutes, De Bruyne counter-attacked with a scalpel that pierced through the Reds' defence, Jesus crossed from the right and Sterling was saved with a push from Alisson.
Teammates don't give strength, or come by yourself. A minute later, City sent a quick free kick in front of the field, Tintin took the ball outside the box and bombarded the goal, the ball hit Mattip slightly to break the goal, Manchester City took a 1-0 lead.
Liverpool also fought back quickly, with Robertson's cross from the left in the 13th minute, Alexander-Arnold's inverted triangle pass on the right and Jota pushing to tie 1-1.
In the 23rd minute, Walker returned the pass to the goalkeeper and Ederson played with fire to almost cause a oolong, which made the fans hold their breath.
Tintin took a free kick in the 25th minute, Rodri headed the ball across and Stones followed up slowly before failing to shovel.
On 29 minutes Cancello passed the ball, De Bruyne turned inside the penalty area and fired a shot that hit the outside of the post and popped up.
City led again in the 37th minute when Tintin's corner cross was tipped over, Canselo's 45-degree cross and Jesus counter-offside cushioned the bar to give City a 2-1 lead. It was just the Brazilian striker's third league goal of the season.
At the beginning of the second half, Liverpool's two forwards connected, and Salah obliquely assisted Mane's one-handed goal, making the score 2-2.
On 63 minutes, De Bruyne went straight and Sterling single-handedly broke the goal. However, the VAR replay showed offside first and the goal was invalid.
In the 72nd minute, De Bruyne scored straight, Jesus took the ball too alone on the right and shot into the side-netting from a tight angle.
Guardiola replaced Sterling with Mahrez in the 75th minute and Gralis removed Jesus in the 83rd minute. Liverpool also replaced Dias and Firmino.
In the 90th minute De Bruyne ran to create a yellow card for Van Dijk, And a City free-kick in front of the field, Mahrez took the penalty and hit the outside of the post to pop up.
In the last minute of stoppage time, De Bruyne sent a freehand pass that would turn around, and Mahrez almost formed a single knife, but his left foot provocation deflected off target and missed the kill.
The score was finally set at a 2-2 draw, with City still one point ahead of Liverpool, with both sides with seven games to go.
Looking at technical statistics, although De Bruyne's data is not very eye-catching: 2 shots and 1 goal, 43 touches, 29 passes, 23 successes, a success rate of 79%, 2 key passes, but the numbers do not reflect the full value of Tintin.
In addition to participating in the team's threatening attack, De Bruyne also produced three yellow cards for Liverpool players, and Robertson, Thiago and Van Dijk could only use fouls to prevent Tintin from interjecting. Tintin also had too many passes squandered by his teammates to form the next threat.
Like Sterling's treatment after receiving De Bruyne's straight plug, how could this possibly break through Van Dijk, simply speechless.
In a post-match interview with Pep Guardiola, De Bruyne said: "Not only can De Bruyne deliver a lot of assists, his vision for the last pass is superb, he can score a lot of goals himself. I told him to score more goals to get himself to new heights. ”
Maybe There is still a subtext that Gua Shuai did not say: your teammates spit out too much cake, or eat more yourself.
In 24 Premier League appearances this season, De Bruyne contributed 11 goals and three assists, a career-high goal efficiency, but the number of assists was significantly lower than expected. Bearing in mind that he sent 62 threatening passes, it is clear that after Aguero left the team, City lacked a top striker who seized the opportunity to stabilize.
If the Blue Moon had won Harry Kane last summer, the situation might have been very different. The assists of Tintin and B-seaters will increase significantly.
But now the situation is that Tintin can only be both a father and a mother, creating opportunities by himself and seizing opportunities by himself. Especially in strong dialogue.
Since joining the 2015-16 season, De Bruyne has contributed 25 goals and 16 assists to nine strong teams including Liverpool, Chelsea, Arsenal, Manchester United, Tottenham Hotspur, Real Madrid, Atletico Madrid, Paris Grande and Barca. Contributed 8 goals and 7 assists in the Champions League knockout rounds.
At the age of 30, the style of play, efficiency and ornamentality are equal. If we talk about the world's first midfielder, who else but De Bruyne? But without Manchester City, which is not a top striker, how far can the Champions League go?