Manchester City were provided with some joy on Tuesday night after many Blues fans had to be consoled earlier on in the day with the news that Jose Mourinho had departed hated rivals Manchester United.
Up stepped the idolised Kevin De Bruyne for the Citizens, making his return from the second injury to have blighted his season so far.
City gained ground on retaining the League Cup - which they won after defeating Arsenal at Wembley last February - by seeing off Leicester City, although they had to have the inconvenience of a penalty shootout after the game finished 1-1 after 90 minutes.
Man City’s 2017/18 Player of the Year, ‘KDB’ has featured in just seven games for the Premier League champions this season after several setbacks, though that hasn’t stopped the rampage as the club have gained progression in the Champions League.
De Bruyne made a premature return from a torn knee ligament injury at the end of October, featuring in four appearances before being cruelly hindered yet again in their last EFL Cup fixture at the beginning of November, in a 2-0 defeat of Fulham, in which the Belgian was widely acknowledged to have been by far and away, once again, the best player on the pitch.
At the King Power Stadium this week, the simply scintillating midfielder marked his recuperation with yet a typical stunning goal which was praised equally for it’s construction as its finish.
Even before a quarter of an hour was up, De Bruyne collected the ball just outside the Leicester box, produced a deft shimmy to shrug off Hamza Choudhury and then slotted perfectly past Danny Ward.
Mark Albrighton got Leicester back into the game less than 20 minutes from time, but penalties decided the tie in favour of the visitors.
You can watch the video of De Bruyne’s ‘welcome back’ beauty below.
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