Kevin De Bruyne’s celebration, with arms spread and finger curled in a zen position, was an attempt to resemble Manchester City’s summer signing Erling Haaland.
In Wednesday night’s 5-1 triumph against Wolves, he didn’t provide the finest impression of the Norwegian international.
That occurred in the previous 24 minutes, when he scored a stunning hat-trick to bring Pep Guardiola’s Manchester City to within four points of a fourth Premier League title in five years.
There was even time for a fourth goal and a goal for Raheem Sterling to improve City’s goal differential and gain every advantage in the title chase.
City will match Europe’s deadliest young striker with the most fantastically imaginative attacking midfielder in the last five years.
For the time being, De Bruyne has elected to play both roles, putting in an incredible performance in a potentially perilous visit to Wolves, when any slip-up would have given Liverpool hope for the final 10 days of the season.
This was exactly the type of performance they expect from Haaland when he joins the team next season: power, precision, and incredible finishing.
De Bruyne’s superb passing game was still on display, as the Belgian picked out a wonderful pass for Phil Foden inside the first few minutes that drifted just wide.
But then he opted to inflict the damage himself, scoring the third-fastest hat-trick in Premier League history – and few will have had as much quality in 90 minutes.
Within seven minutes, a driving run into the box was followed by a ferocious precise strike past goalkeeper Jose Sa.
Then, nine minutes later, De Bruyne’s first-time pass found Sterling, and as the ball rebounded off the keeper, he smashed in a second.
His third was simply a vicious clubbing shot from the edge of the box that powered past Sa before he could react.
In front of the jubilant away fans, De Bruyne demonstrated his borrowed goal celebration — Foden simply grinned and shook his head in surprise as he clapped his teammate on the back after a fantastic contribution.
With a defensive crisis forcing 37-year-old midfielder Fernandinho into an emergency center-back duty, City’s best option was always to attack.
In the 11th minute, Fernandinho and Aymeric Laporte got into a scuffle, allowing Leander Dendoncker to equalize.
But De Bruyne’s hammering performance relieved all of the pressure.
It was an undeniably disappointing and off-night for him, but he and City responded perfectly.
Guardiola’s team has moved three points clear in a week after making an acquisition that many see as arguably the most iconic in the club’s history – beating off Real Madrid, Barcelona, and Bayern Munich to sign Haaland.
Ironically, De Bruyne’s signing from the Bundesliga in 2015 was not met with the same enthusiasm.
After his difficult early years at Chelsea, one English publication dubbed him “The £60m Reject.”
City would be delighted if Haaland could match De Bruyne’s effect.
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