Headlines that freely spouted words such as ‘humiliated’ or ‘embarrassed’ were used after the Nou Camp loss but the truth was a little less sensational than that.
Yesterday’s Talking Points covered off some of the aforementioned headlines but De Bruyne was keen to add his own viewpoint.
The Mail write: “Yet until that pivotal moment in the 53rd minute, City had been holding their own and were trailing only 1-0, and De Bruyne retains full belief in manager Pep Guardiola’s tactics.
“He said: ‘Obviously if you lose 4-0 it’s bad, but I think the way we want to play is the good way. Even a good team like Barcelona didn’t have it as easy as people thought.
‘I think it’s the right way. We didn’t play badly. We could have scored goals, we had almost the same amount of possession and almost the same amount of goal-scoring opportunities.
‘We made mistakes but, okay, it happens. In the end they scored four. It looks bad but I don’t think we should feel bad.
‘People can say whatever they want, this is the way we need to play and we will win a lot of games like this.’
Nicely put.
A couple of transfer snippets are doing the rounds this morning including ESPN (via The Sun): “Borussia Dortmund midfielder Julian Weigl has been making waves with a series of outstanding performances in recent months, and his form has not gone unnoticed by Pep Guardiola.
“The Sun reports that Guardiola -- who it says had been ‘keeping tabs’ on Weigl while coaching Bayern Munich -- is interested in bringing him to Manchester City in the summer.
“Guardiola will ‘test Dortmund’s resolve’ with a £20 million bid -- but he could have his work cut out, with BVB determined to keep the 21-year-old and set to offer him a brand-new contract.”
Another story several outlets have gone with today is the alleged continued pursuit of Pablo Zabaleta.
Goal.com report: “Inter officials were at Camp Nou on Wednesday night to hold talks with Manchester City over a January move for Zabaleta, Goal understands.
“Top-ranking delegates from the Serie A club were in attendance for City’s Champions League clash with Barcelona as it stepped up its attempts to sign the Argentina right back.
“Zabaleta was heavily linked with a move to Serie A with either Inter or Roma this summer but remained at the Etihad Stadium for Pep Guardiola’s first campaign in England.
“The 31-year-old has played the majority of City’s games so far, owing partly to Bacary Sagna’s injury woes.”
Finally, the Transfer Tavern suggest Southampton could extend City’s winless run to five on Sunday with a brief overview of their visit to the Etihad.
They write: “Southampton have looked impressive this season after an early blip in which they were winless after four matches
“Since then though, they have won 4 out of the last 5, drawing the other away at the Champions, Leicester.
“This season the Saints are being led by a new manager after Ronald Koeman departed to take charge at Everton. In stepped Frenchman Claude Puel, who has steadied the ship at the South Coast club who are looking to impress in the Premier League, once again.
“The Saints have become known for selling their most prized assets and losing two managers in Mauricio Pochettino and Ronald Koeman – but at least that shows that things are good on the pitch.
“After destroying Burnley this weekend with the most shots by a single team in a Premier League match this season (34), there seems to be no reason why this side can’t cause an upset at Manchester City next weekend.”
More build-up and gossip tomorrow plus throughout the day on mancity.com…
