Manuel Pellegrini praises Man City character and 'perfect' Kevin De Bruyne after Sevilla win
Thursday 22 October 2015 11:27, UK
Manuel Pellegrini praised Manchester City's character after a late 2-1 win over Sevilla - and declared Kevin De Bruyne "the perfect player".
De Bruyne's injury-time strike gave City all three points in their Champions League Group D clash, putting them in a good position to qualify for the knockout stages with three games remaining.
Pellegrini was delighted with the win ahead of the Manchester derby on Sunday and said the 24-year-old - who scored his fifth goal in nine appearances - was duly delivering after his £54m move from Wolfsburg.
"We bought Kevin because we knew is a very creative player who can score and create goals and in that respect he was the perfect player to bring to our club," Pellegrini said.
"It was a very close game, it was very difficult for both teams to create chances.
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"There was a lot of intensity and it was not easy. It was important to draw level before half-time. We improved in the last 10 minutes and we had the character to win the game at the end.
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"When you win it is very important for the trust of the players, because it's important to arrive for an important game like the derby by winning and not losing.
"We need to continue improving what we are doing. It is important we recover and continue our good performances in the Premier League."
Pellegrini insists he decided to move De Bruyne up front for the final 15 minutes because the team were not creating chances, as he replaced Wilfried Bony with Fernando.
Despite Raheem Sterling scoring a hat-trick in the 5-1 win over Bournemouth on Saturday, Pellegrini's decision to place De Bruyne centrally paid off at the Etihad.
"It's very important for him [to score the winner]," Pellegrini added.
"We tried to make a change because we were not arriving in their box or creating chances. That's why we put Kevin in front of Yaya."
