Kevin De Bruyne says he was pleased with the reaction of his Manchester City teammates in an entertaining win over Borussia Dortmund, as he gave his verdict on a controversial decision that could have changed the entire dynamic of the tie. De Bruyne said he believed Bellingham was penalised for a high foot.
Kevin de Bruyne said: “I’ve not seen the replay but I think he goes with his feet, with his studs so it’s difficult to say because I don’t know.”
Reflecting on the game as a whole, De Bruyne said he was pleased with the mentality City showed.
Kevin de Bruyne said: “I think we saw the way they played, really well with the ball, they caused us some problems sometimes. First half we had difficulties finding chances. In the second half we created a few. Probably should have scored a bit more but when they make it 1-1 there was a shame. It happened, they are a good team. The reaction was really good to get the win. Okay, 2-1 is a tricky score but at least we’re ahead for the second leg. They play really well between the lines, obviously when you get the goal against it’s a shame. It happens, the reaction was good, now we prepare for Saturday.”
Manager Pep Guardiola echoed De Bruyne’s frustrations with conceding an away goal. Pep Guardiola said, “Yeah, relief, better to win than draw. Still at 1-1 we had 90 mins to do it. 2-1, Champions League, we are going there to win the game.First half we were not clever with the ball. Second half was much better, two or three clear chances to score the second or third, unfortunately didn’t happen, but after we conceded we were there and we score the final goal.”
Guardiola also explained why he replaced Bernardo Silva with recognised striker Gabriel Jesus just before the hour mark,
Pep Guardiola said, “To play good in the areas you want we need a good build up, today was not good. Joao and Rodri weren’t clever to receive the ball in the positions to contact for the other ones. It’s normal, the opponents are strong, the quality, the pace, upfront, difficult to do what we want to do. It’s a good result, 2-1 and we have a chance next week.”
Guardiola said he hadn’t seen replays of either controversial refereeing decisions in the first half, the first of which saw the awarding of a penalty to City overturned following an incident involving Emre Can and Rodri.
