Haaland, a revelation in his first season at City, made his first start in two months in the 3-1 away win at Brentford.
De Bruyne was also back in the first XI against the Bees as Guardiola called on another of his star players.
KDB had been out for five months before coming back into the fold from the bench in January’s 5-0 FA Cup win over Huddersfield, setting up Jeremy Doku for the last goal of the entertaining game.
From there, he scored one and assisted one in the 3-2 victory at Newcastle, produced the corner for Nathan Ake’s winner which put us through to the FA Cup last 16 at Tottenham and rounded off January with an assist for Julian Alvarez in the 3-1 home victory over Burnley.
The Belgian was then named Etihad Player of the Month and in our last game, the first in February, KDB set up Phil Foden for the second of the night as we defeated the Bees at the Gtech Stadium.
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Guardiola is delighted to have them back involved and says it’s obvious how vital they are as we fight on three fronts once again across 2023/24.
“When one player scores 60 goals it helps you to win games. When you have a player with a thousand million assists and goals it helps you win games.
“You don’t have to study at Harvard or Yale to understand that.”
Another player in the spotlight at present is Phil Foden.
Foden scored a hat-trick in our last match at Brentford, pushing him to 14 goals across all competitions already this term.
The boss has been very happy with his form and believes the attacking midfielder is keen to get even better.
“If he wants to improve he will improve. That’s life. And I think he wants to do it.
“He’s doing well. Since he arrived early, early ages, he was at a good level and he continues to do it.”
Guardiola also refused to be drawn on his opinion of sin bins or blue cards that have been in the news this week.
The City manager said it was ‘just an idea’ at present and he would offer a verdict on the concepts at a later date when they’re fully formed.
“I heard something like that but it’s not official from UEFA or FIFA.
“When they give the final decisions and explain the rules for everyone around the world, not just the referees and managers, I’ll give you my opinion.
“Now it’s just an idea.”
