KEVIN DE BRUYNE produced a midfield masterclass at the Etihad on Thursday night as City trounced newly-crowned champions Liverpool.
While the Reds were understandably not at the races after a week of partying, the Belgian was ruthless in punishing their somewhat groggy performance.
De Bruyne produced a masterful display against champions Liverpool on Thursday nightCredit: AFP or Licensors
De Bruyne, 29, had commentator Gary Neville purring on the TV broadcast, having netted one goal and played a big part in another two with his genius playmaking.
And after the game his manager Pep Guardiola didn’t want to play down the exquisite talents of the man many believe to be the Premier League’s star attraction.
He said: “He is a really good player. A really, really good player. He has something unique.
“He can run, the vision he has. The personality he shows right now, scoring four penalties in a row when we struggled this season with them.
“Right now in the midfield position is the best.
“Of course he can get better. How? He knows it.”
While anyone with eyes can see just how classy a player De Bruyne is, how do his numbers stack up with Europe’s most productive creative midfielders?
Let’s take a look.
Thomas Muller
Muller has provided a career-best 21 assists this seasonCredit: Reuters
While perhaps not possessing as elegant a game as De Bruyne, Muller has produced an absolutely extraordinary season at Bayern Munich.
The 30-year-old contributed enormously as his side romped to the Bundesliga title – Muller’s ninth in Bavaria.
The rangy German is hard to even nail down to a position, but he produced a career-best 21 assists in the league this season.
Added to a useful tally of eight goals, Muller’s attacking contribution are not to be sniffed at.
He undoubtedly plays in a different style to De Bruyne, as his 1207 passes to the Man City man’s 1624 and 31 dribbles attempted to 79, would suggest.
But while he gets nowhere near as involved, Muller’s attacking instincts in the penalty area are hard to match.
Kai Havertz
Havertz could be on his way to the Premier League next seasonCredit: Getty – Pool
Chelsea fans are particularly excited about links to £90million-rated Kai Havertz, and taking a look at his numbers it’s easy to see why.
At just 21, the German has produced an extraordinary season in carrying Bayer Leverkusen’s attack.
His tally of eight assists lags behind the likes of De Bruyne and Muller, but he has outscored both of them with 12.
In fact, he has a little way to go if he is to match the more experienced pair’s creativity.
While his tally of 59 chances created is impressive, it is nowhere near De Bruyne’s 106 or even Muller’s 88.
He is much more of a dribbler, however, which is useful for progressing his side up the pitch.
Havertz has attempted 128 dribbles, compared to 79 for De Bruyne and just 31 for Muller.
Alejandro Gomez
The 32-year-old late bloomer has provided 15 Serie A assists and countingCredit: EPA
Atalanta have had a fairytale season, reaching the Champions League quarter-finals – and much of that is down to their experienced playmaker Alejandro Gomez.
Standing at a diminutive 5ft 6in, the Argentine is easily the Bergamo side’s most creative threat – and his tally of 15 assists is only bested in this group by De Bruyne himself with 17.
He would perhaps like more than his tally of six goals, however, having attempted 79 shots – 20 and 25 more than Havertz and Muller respectively.
Gomez, 32, also likes a dribble, having attempted 88 this season in Serie A at a success rate of 54.6 per cent – similar to De Bruyne’s record of 79 attempts and 54.4 per cent success.
Christian Eriksen
Eriksen is still settling in to life at Inter MilanCredit: Getty Images – Getty
The former Tottenham schemer’s numbers are greatly down this year on previous campaigns – largely down to his uncertain first half of the season in which his heart appeared already elsewhere.
Having played at least 800 fewer minutes than Gomez, Muller, Havertz and De Bruyne, he can’t be fairly blamed for his comparatively paltry tally of three goals and four assists.
His passing accuracy can be fairly judged, however, and at 80.2 per cent is lower than Havertz, De Bruyne and Gomez – although that could just mean that he is generally trying more difficult passes – however his assist tally would show that it is not bearing fruit either way.
As he has grown older, Eriksen has begun to play more of a deeper role than that of the classic No10.
And perhaps these numbers highlight that he is morphing into more of a Luka Modric-style “assist the assist” type of midfielder.
Either way, he’ll be hoping for better in his first full campaign with Inter next time around.
Bruno Fernandes
Bruno Fernandes has had a transformative effect on Manchester United’s seasonCredit: Getty Images – Getty
Any list of Europe’s top creators has to include this man, however like Eriksen, it’s difficult to fairly compare his contributions.
These numbers only count contributions made in Europe’s top five leagues – making his eight goals and seven assists in Liga NOS this season worthless in this currency.
His Manchester United statistics, however, make for pleasing reading for Red Devils fans.
With five goals and three assists, he has already made an enormous tangible contribution in his first eight Premier League appearances.
His tally of 136 minutes-per-goal is the best of any player on this list, while his 227 minutes-per-assist is bested only by Muller, De Bruyne and Gomez.
His dribble success rate stands at 75.3 per cent, more than 20 per cent higher than anyone else on this list.
While De Bruyne certainly reigns supreme in Manchester for now, next season Fernandes will definitely be on his tail…
Danny Murphy hits out at the idea of Man City and De Bruyne giving Liverpool a guard of honour
Source: Soccer - thesun.co.uk
