The True Reason Behind Kevin De Bruyne's Cryptic '2-1' Celebration in City's Victory Against Spurs

Upon scoring the second goal in Man City's comprehensive trouncing of Tottenham on Saturday, Kevin De Bruyne opted to display his pleasure with a cryptic hand signal.

The forward, who sparkled in the total destruction of Spurs, ran to the corner flag in celebration, and then produced his fingers to signal '2-1' to the television cameras, sparking wild debate as to what it could represent.

Many Manchester United supporters took it as a slight on their 2-1 loss to the runaway leaders, and in particular an insult to their manager Jose Mourinho, who infamously deemed the Belgian surplus to requirements during his time at Chelsea.

PAUL ELLIS/GettyImages

Elsewhere, some fans assumed the gesture was in fact in relation to the resulting points difference between the two competing teams on Saturday, with Spurs now an inconceivable 21 points behind City in the league table.

However, the true reason behind De Bruyne's ambiguous actions was revealed after the game, when their routine celebratory group changing-room photo emerged on social media.

City players Fabian Delph and Ederson held up shirts emblazoned with David Silva, while the rest of the squad gestured towards the spaniard's jersey, evidently dedicating their impressive win to the absent midfielder.

Fans and pundits alike had been perplexed, and indeed worried when the news surfaced that City's spanish maestro had been excluded completely from the matchday squad to face Tottenham.

Pep Guardiola revealed the in-form 31-year-old was missing due to 'personal reasons', but would not delve any further in his explanation. 

While Silva's vacancy was initially cause for concern, it proved to be inconsequential, with his able replacement Ilkay Gundogan providing a goal and assist as City's recordbreakers proved too much for a substandard Spurs side to handle.