De Bruyne eyes title to erase City's pain

LONDON • A second straight Premier League title and their fourth in five years will assuage disappointment at Manchester City, after their Champions League loss to Real Madrid in the semi-finals.

Pep Guardiola's side need only four points from the next two games to seal the title and, after boosting their goal difference over second-placed Liverpool to +7, they have another buffer.

City smashed Wolverhampton Wanderers 5-1 in the Premier League on Wednesday, showing their ruthlessness in front of goal, which is set to get even better when Erling Haaland joins from Borussia Dortmund for €60 million (S$87.3 million) in the summer transfer window.

After a four-goal haul alongside Raheem Sterling's strike, Kevin de Bruyne celebrated with a meditation pose made famous by his soon-to-be teammate.

The symbolism was clear. City will be hoping that goal machine Haaland's planned July 1 transfer not only cements their status at the top of the Premier League but also brings an elusive Champions League trophy.

"It's a good signing for the future. He comes for many, many years hopefully. I'm pretty sure he will adapt perfectly," said manager Pep Guardiola. "He's an incredible young talent with a perfect age. I'm pretty sure we are going to have him to settle as best as possible."

Before welcoming him, however, Guardiola has a Premier League to win and it is hard to see City falling at the final hurdle, even as they suffered more injuries at Wolves.

Kyle Walker, John Stones and Ruben Dias are already out for the season and both Fernandinho and Aymeric Laporte had to come off with knocks, leaving the defensive duo a doubt for Sunday's league game at West Ham.

But even though City are short on defenders, their offensive machine is purring with de Bruyne driving them forward.

"Unstoppable, brilliant, awesome, outstanding, perfect," Guardiola said of his Belgium playmaker, who could have had five strikes at Molineux as another one of his shots pinged off the post.

"He had the ability to create the special things. Always we push him. He is an incredible player, generous with assists, but he has to score goals and this season is the most prolific he has had since we are together."

With 15 strikes in the league this season, this is de Bruyne's most prolific campaign in the English top flight since joining in 2015 - even though he has made just 23 starts this term through a combination of injuries and Covid-19.

However, there is still disappointment around the Etihad after Real pipped them 6-5 on aggregate in the Champions League semi-finals, even though the Spanish champions were largely outplayed over two legs.

On City's exit, de Bruyne said: "It was just a mad five minutes. I don't know what happened... It was a bit of a shock. You need to move on, we need to win the (Premier League) title, and move on."

AGENCE FRANCE-PRESSE, REUTERS