The sad way Kevin De Bruyne celebrated Arsenal masterclass

Kevin De Bruyne gave a fairly sad response when asked how he celebrated Manchester City's 4-1 demolition over Arsenal at the Etihad Stadium.

De Bruyne produced an absolute masterclass for Pep Guardiola's men, scoring a brace and registering his 16th assist of the season.

He and Erling Haaland, who also got a pair of assists and a goal absolutely tormented the Gunners as City, who have two games in hand, cut the gap between them and the league leaders to two points in a huge result in the title race.

De Bruyne, who was substituted for Julian Alvarez in the second half, was not quite able to enjoy the scenes afterwards, however.

The Belgian picked up the Man of the Match award for his incredible display but that meant he was a man in demand in terms of media duties and did not get to spend much, if any, time with his teammates afterwards.

Asked how he celebrated the mammoth win and performance, De Bruyne told the Daily Star: "To be fair, by doing about 15 interviews. When I got back to the dressing room, most of the team was gone."

De Bruyne spoke to an array of outlets during his mini-media tour, including the likes of NBC and BT Sport, who broadcasted the game live in the UK.

And he explained the shift in tactics City used to pummel Arsenal, who haven't beat the Blues in the Premier League since 2015.

City sacrificed much of their build-up play and played much more direct, targeting Rob Holding and constantly finding De Bruyne and Haaland in space.

“When they play man-to-man we have to go a bit longer because there is no space to play short passes," De Bruyne explained to BT Sport.

“In the second half, it was 50/50, they are a very class team and hard to play against. We had to be at our best today and I think we were.

“I think we set up a bit differently rather than with the two 8s, I had a little bit more the freedom to go left and right, who was putting pressure from them between Partey and Xhaka and trying to find space.”

City will look to continue their incredible winning run on Sunday when they travel to Craven Cottage to play Fulham.

Featured Image Credit: Alamy & Optus Sport

Topics: Kevin De Bruyne, Manchester City, Premier League, Arsenal

Josh Lawless

Josh is a sports journalist who specialises in football and wrestling. He has been published by Curzon Ashton FC, Late Tackle, Manchester City FC, The Mirror, Read Man City and Manchester Evening News. He provides coverage of professional wrestling and has interviewed some of the biggest names in the field - including the first UK interview with The Hardy Boyz after their return to WWE. He has never sported a pair of Lonsdale Slip-ons, contrary to reports.

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