Reasons for Kevin De Bruyne for not Being a Starter Playing Against Tottenham Hotspur

DBasia.news –  Manchester City failed to score and had to accept defeat when they visited Tottenham Hotspur Stadium, the Champions League quarter-final first leg on Wednesday (10/4) early morning Western Indonesian Time.

The visitors actually had the opportunity to open the scoring first through a Sergio Aguero penalty in the 13th minute, but his strike could easily be blocked by Hugo Lloris. Son Heung Min finally ensured the Lilywhites victory through his single goal in the 78th minute.

Mastering the course of the match and also superior in terms of possession of 57 percent compared to 43 percent, the public was quite surprised by the composition of players chosen by Pep Guardiola. The Spanish manager chose to defuse Kevin de Bruyne and bring down Ilkay Gundogan. De Bruyne even just entered in the 89th minute replacing David Silva.

Not wanting to take too long to make the public wonder why he chose to defuse De Bruyne, Guardiola finally opened his voice and confirmed that his decision was purely due to the interests of tactics and strategy.

“I chose to play two defensive midfielders – Ilkay Gundogan and Fernandinho so the team played more solid. This is not a problem. Yes, I know that this is a difficult decision (for De Bruyne), but we still have a leg second, “Guardiola said as quoted by the Evening Standard.

Not only discussing the issue of benching De Bruyne, the former Barcelona manager was still satisfied with the appearance shown by his team in this match.

“Manchester City controls the game. Yes, if you see the final result, it is not the best, but we are undergoing a very extraordinary match and managed to create several opportunities. Now the team has to do is focus and make a comeback in the second leg,” he added.

Before hosting the second meeting which will take place on April 18, the club based at the Etihad Stadium must first play an away match against Crystal Palace in the 34th week of the Premier League on Sunday (14/4).