Saturday 2 April 2016 20:04, UK
Manuel Pellegrini praised Kevin De Bruyne after the Belgian turned in an impressive display on his return from injury in Manchester City's 4-0 win at Bournemouth.
The forward made his first Premier League appearance for over two months after recovering from a knee-ligament injury sustained against Everton in the Capital One Cup semi-finals.
De Bruyne scored the visitors' second goal at the Vitality Stadium with a calm finish after a lovely passing move involving Sergio Aguero and David Silva.
And Pellegrini hopes De Bruyne will now maintain this type of form until the end of the season as City remain in fourth position in the table and make progress in the Champions League.
"Kevin was a very important player for our team before and I think he returned today in a very good shape," he said.
"I did not want him to play more than 55 minutes, but I hope that from now until the end of the season he will continue with the same performances we are used to."
City raced into a 3-0 lead after just 19 minutes through strikes from Fernando, De Bruyne and Aguero, with their blistering start on the South Coast delighting their manager.
"It was a good victory for the Premier League," Pellegrini said. "The Premier League will be very tight at the end of the season, I think it will be very important to try and get a spot in the Champions League.
"And, of course, when you win like the way we did, it gives a lot of trust for the next game.
"We spoke to the players beforehand about how important it was to be aggressive from the start with and without the ball. We recovered the ball high and made good pressure near their box, because Bournemouth are a team that have scored more goals in the first 15 minutes than anyone else.
"So it was important from the beginning to make them feel that we were coming here for the three points. We did well, scored three beautiful goals and that gives you more trust for the rest of the game."
However, Pellegrini was at a loss to explain why his side could score four times away from home after previously finding it so hard to find the back of the net on their travels.
"It is so difficult to analyse the whole season in just one or two games," he said. "We did not play badly against Manchester United, we played well, we just did not score.
"But I hope from now until the end of the season we can return to being the scoring team that we normally are.
"It is very difficult to understand why in the last five games, we could not score in four. But these things happen in football and we are just thinking about the future, and the past is another thing."
Looking ahead to City's Champions League quarter-final first-leg clash at Paris Saint-Germain on Wednesday night, Pellegrini was optimistic that both Joe Hart and Yaya Toure would be fit to feature at the Parc des Princes.
"We will see how they improve tomorrow and Monday and if they can, it will be very important for our team," he said. "If not, as I always said, with the players that we have we can make a good performance.
"It will be a difficult game, but it is very important to also try to continue in the Champions League."
