Pep Guardiola’s side went in level after a keenly contested opening 45 minutes at St Mary’s, where Aymeric Laporte’s own goal cancelled out Raheem Sterling’s opener.
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The Saints continued to threaten immediately after the break, but De Bruyne’s 61st minute penalty swung the tie in City’s favour, before a superb Phil Foden strike and Riyad Mahrez’s drive completed the win.
The Belgian midfielder admitted Guardiola’s men fell short of our usual high standards in the first half, but says our quality became increasingly evident as the game progressed.
“We didn’t play at our best but after the second goal we did much better,” De Bruyne asserted.
“The third and fourth goals were beautiful goals and we saw then how good we can play.
“I think the first 20 minutes and the last half an hour we did well. In between we made too many stupid mistakes and even with their goal, we should have just played it out - there were 30 seconds to go until half-time.
“We chose the wrong options and Southampton came back into the game. Not a lot was said at half-time but we had to play better and we did that.
“I think the reaction was really good - the second half, we dominated and we did much better.”
The win sees City return to Wembley where we will face Liverpool.
Guardiola has guided the Club to five FA Cup semi-finals in his six seasons at the Etihad Stadium, lifting the trophy with a stunning 6-0 victory over Watford in 2019.
De Bruyne says the players are delighted to be heading back to the famous stadium and is hopeful we can improve on two consecutive semi-final defeats.
“We want to win every competition we enter,” he added.
“We have lost in a couple of FA Cup semi-finals but we are very happy and privileged we go again and hopefully we can win it this time.”
