{"id":69853,"date":"2025-05-03T01:12:16","date_gmt":"2025-05-03T01:12:16","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/69853\/"},"modified":"2025-05-03T01:12:16","modified_gmt":"2025-05-03T01:12:16","slug":"manchester-city-1-0-wolves-kevin-de-bruynes-first-half-strike-secures-crucial-win-for-hosts-in-race-to-qualify-for-the-champions-league","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/69853\/","title":{"rendered":"Manchester City 1-0 Wolves: Kevin De Bruyne’s first half strike secures crucial win for hosts in race to qualify for the Champions League"},"content":{"rendered":"

Neil Warnock was here the other week to interview Pep Guardiola<\/a>. And then again on Thursday to observe training, at Guardiola\u2019s invite. And then again on Friday night, seemingly for reasons unknown, sat next to Guardiola\u2019s closest confidante.<\/p>\n

The guy cannot stay away and was apparently something of a celebrity at training, Erling Haaland<\/a> begging for a picture.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Warnock and Guardiola get along famously in what would appear an unlikely kinship yet then, at 54, Manchester City<\/a>\u2019s manager is inching towards one of the old guard these days too and views the ideals of the game in much the same way as his elders.<\/p>\n

He is looking towards the end, at pains to insist coaching won\u2019t be for him at 76 \u2013 Warnock still linked to jobs \u2013 and whipped up a frenzy by talking about a definite sabbatical and maybe retirement in his post-City future to one broadcaster before having to clarify to another that those decisions won\u2019t be taken anytime soon.<\/p>\n

City\u2019s dip and subsequent fight for the Champions League<\/a> might have driven lesser men to the beach though and Guardiola wore the scars of this season as Wolves<\/a> nudged forward in search of a late equaliser.\u00a0<\/p>\n

The tense expression, anxious howling. These are all must win at the moment and City\u2019s year, and extravagance of summer rebuild in the transfer market, is still on a knife-edge.<\/p>\n

\"Man <\/p>\n

Man City beat Wolves 1-0 in what was a big win in the race to qualify for the Champions League<\/p>\n

\"Kevin <\/p>\n

Kevin De Bruyne’s goal in 35th minute was enough as he continued his impressive form<\/p>\n

\"De <\/p>\n

De Bruyne finished past Jose Sa after he was set up following good work from Jeremy Doku<\/p>\n

\u2018It was an honour,\u2019 Guardiola said of Warnock. \u2018He made a speech to the players, he was so funny. I have massive respect for Neil, Harry Redknapp, Tony Pulis, Sam Allardyce – this country belongs to them.\u2019<\/p>\n

Having Warnock around for some crisis management was no bad idea and it was the ultimate golden oldie \u2013 Kevin De Bruyne \u2013 who made sure City would have their feet up in relative comfort over the weekend.<\/p>\n

De Bruyne was serenaded to the tune of Seven Nation Army at the end by, his penultimate night at the stadium where he has ruled for a decade.<\/p>\n

Making definitive impact during these final games is not only fitting but fills an emotional De Bruyne with pride and vindication in his enduring ability.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u2018A lot of team-mates have spoken to me, they’re sad also that I’m leaving but sometimes that’s how it goes in life,\u2019 he said.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\u2018The way I’m performing and acting, is how everyone should be.\u2019<\/p>\n

Wolves and Vitor Pereira certainly are too, an eye-catching six straight wins securing safety \u2013 a run that saw their manager declare: \u2018I can do magic.\u2019<\/p>\n

Not many would argue with that and they ought to have been two clear by the time De Bruyne was bouncing in Jeremy Doku\u2019s cut back 10 minutes before the break.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"Their <\/p>\n

Their victory was watched on by Neil Warnock, who was a hit among City’s players this week<\/p>\n

\"Wolves <\/p>\n

Wolves missed some huge chances, including when Marshall Munetsi failed to tap home<\/p>\n

\"Matheus <\/p>\n

Matheus Cunha also hit the post in the second half as Wolves put the hosts under pressure<\/p>\n

\"\" <\/p>\n

Pep Guardiola’s side rose to third after a big victory in their push for the Champions League<\/p>\n

Match Facts – Man City 1-0 Wolves <\/p>\n

Manchester City (4-2-3-1): Ederson; Nunes, Dias, Gvardiol, O’Reilly (Akanji 58); Gundogan (McAtee 84), Kovacic (Nico 90+3); Silva, De Bruyne (Foden 84), Doku; Marmoush (Lewis 84)<\/p>\n

Substitutes not used: Ortega, Savinho, Haaland, Grealish<\/p>\n

Manager: Pep Guardiola<\/p>\n

Scorer: De Bruyne 35<\/p>\n

Booked: None\u00a0<\/p>\n

Wolves (3-4-2-1): Sa; Doherty (Sarabia 65), Agbadou, Toti; Semedo (Bueno 85), J Gomes, Andre (Guedes 80), Ait Nouri; Munetsi, Bellegarde (R Gomes 65); Cunha (Hee-Chan 85)<\/p>\n

Substitutes not used: Bentley, Djiga, Doyle, Lima<\/p>\n

Manager: Vitor Pereira<\/p>\n

Scorer: None<\/p>\n

Booked: None<\/p>\n

Remarkably, De Bruyne became only the second player, behind Lionel Messi, to reach 250 goal involvements under Guardiola.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Wolves will believe that he should not have been left alone inside the box and that they ought to have been clear.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Marshall Munetsi had performed his finest Gazza impression, agonisingly failing to connect when sliding onto Nelson Semedo\u2019s centre, while Rayan Ait-Nouri struck a post and saw Josko Gvardiol block his follow up on the line.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Wolves menaced on the break and their travelling fans mercilessly jeered ex-midfielder (and now City right back, of course) Matheus Nunes with every touch.<\/p>\n

City came back out sluggishly, Nunes needing to be alert in swooping to stop Munetsi breaking clear, while Matheus Cunha hammered the returning Ederson\u2019s right-hand post.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Munetsi wanted a penalty when grappling with Gvardiol.<\/p>\n

The earlier goal owed much to Bernardo Silva, whose performances have continued to improve with City\u2019s recent upturn.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Silva tenaciously won possession on halfway and that has been then hallmark of his displays in central midfield, where the Portuguese now looks more at home.<\/p>\n

\"Erling <\/p>\n

Erling Haaland had returned to the bench ahead of schedule but he was unused on the night<\/p>\n

\"Jeremy <\/p>\n

Jeremy Doku put in a lively display after starting a league game for the first time in a month<\/p>\n


\n
\n<\/a><\/p>\n

Silva\u2019s unseen tracking of runners prevented Wolves from really taking control of this.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Always one of Guardiola\u2019s favourite sons \u2013 maybe even the chosen one \u2013 Silva had as much influence in and out of possession as anyone.<\/p>\n

Even with that nous, this felt nervous for the hosts, desperate to capitalise on Nottingham Forest\u2019s slip 24 hours earlier, and typically it was Silva who hooked from under his own posts and smash into the crowd in stoppage time to preserve the points.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Neil Warnock was here the other week to interview Pep Guardiola. And then again on Thursday to observe…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":69854,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8813],"tags":[748,92,393,94,4884,1858,2465,886,1037,101,93,16,15],"class_list":{"0":"post-69853","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-manchester","8":"tag-britain","9":"tag-dailymail","10":"tag-england","11":"tag-football","12":"tag-great-britain","13":"tag-kevin-de-bruyne","14":"tag-manchester","15":"tag-manchester-city","16":"tag-pep-guardiola","17":"tag-premier-league","18":"tag-sport","19":"tag-uk","20":"tag-united-kingdom"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/114441247516599544","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/69853","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=69853"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/69853\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/69854"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=69853"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=69853"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=69853"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}