Kevin De Bruyne reveals secret behind Julian Alvarez's second goal in Man City win v Burnley

Kevin De Bruyne has revealed Manchester City’s disguised set-piece goal against Burnley was pre-planned.

The Belgian set up Julian Alvarez in the 22 minute when he shaped to cross the ball into the box, but instead played a flat pass into the Argentina forward, who fired the ball beyond James Trafford in the away goal.

It was a set-piece routine that thrilled Pep Guardiola, who went straight to celebrate with Carlos Vicens, the City coach who coordinates free-kick and corner plans.

“Yesterday we worked a bit on it,” De Bruyne explained to TNT Sport after the 3-1 win over the Clarets. “I think in the beginning I didn’t really want to do it but the guy with Julian moved to him a bit and it opened the space for Julian to go into. I felt I didn’t even have to put it around, I put it straight with the right speed and Julian does the rest. 

“We practised it for Burnley but obviously it can work against other teams. Pep is delighted with the staff because if you pull it off they are happy."

Kyle Walker revealed last week that City practised set-pieces in Abu Dhabi during the winter break and the Premier League champions are already reaping the rewards, with goals from a corner and free-kick in the last two games.

“They [the staff] give you the options and there are always a couple of options you can do: front post, second post, trick plays,” explained De Bruyne. “Then it’s a little bit of seeing what is possible and when you pull it off it’s a nice goal.”

Guardiola, not a coach associated with set-piece routines, said it’s becoming an increasingly important part of his team’s pre-match preparations.

"Today, set-pieces are really important. We won [on] the FA Cup against Spurs from a corner and today Carlos and Jack prepared. I'm not involved in set-pieces because the other ones are better and I don't have time and we are preparing things and corners, like every team.

"It's not that we are different to other teams but we prepared this free-kick and it worked. Kevin had to make the perfect pass and Julian the movement. Someone had the idea to do this so all credit to Carlos and Jack."