'We worked on it' - Kevin De Bruyne reveals innovative free-kick that led to Julian Alvarez goal was pre-prepared for Burnley clash

De Bruyne caught Burnley by surprise by slipping the ball through the defence from the free-kick rather than shooting at goal or crossing and Alvarez nipped in to score for the second time in the eventual 3-1 win over former City captain Vincent Kompany's side.

"Yesterday, we worked on it (the set-piece) a bit,” De Bruyne told TNT Sports. “In the beginning, I didn’t really want to do it but then the guy who was with Julian moved to him a bit, so opened the space for Julian to go into. "I didn’t have to put it around, I just had to put it straight with the right speed, and then Julian does the rest. We practised this yesterday for Burnley but it can work against other teams. You can see Pep is delighted with the staff because if you pull it off, they are happy."

Guardiola was delighted with the goal and ran from his seat in the dugout to congratulate his assistant coaches Jack Wilson and Carles Vincens.

"Set-pieces are really important in modern football, we won in the FA Cup at Spurs with a corner and today the free-kick. It's Carles and Jack, I'm not involved in set-pieces, they are better and I don't have time," he said. "Kevin had to make the perfect pass and Julian had to make the movement and finish but someone had to say 'we're going to do this' so all credit to Carles and Jack."

City stayed five points behind Premier League leaders Liverpool with a game in hand thanks to their win over Burnley and they are next in action away to Brentford on Monday. The Bees were the only team to do the double over City last season, winning 2-1 at the Etihad Stadium and 1-0 at home on the final day of the season.