Pep Guardiola Admits Concern Over Kevin de Bruyne Injury After Carabao Cup Win

Pep Guardiola's Manchester City comfortably beat Fulham 2-0 in the Carabao Cup round of 16 fixture last night. 

Spanish youngster Brahim Diaz took the most plaudits from the evening after bagging himself both goals on the evening. However, a late injury to Kevin de Bruyne seemed to dampen the mood on what had otherwise been a good outing for City.

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Speaking after the game, Guardiola seemed unsure as to quite what the full extent of the issue was. The City manager told reporters, "Kevin is being checked by the doctors. I don't know [how serious it is]. We don't know if it's nothing or if it's something serious."

The Spaniard chose to take the positives from De Bruyne's evening though, and discussed his recent return to fitness in an optimistic fashion. 

"I think today Kevin is back, the Kevin we know. He made a huge effort against Shakhtar [Donetsk], played a few minutes against Tottenham in difficult conditions. 

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"Today [against Fulham] he was involved in offence and defence, hopefully what happened in the last minute is not serious."

The City manager also complemented his team's 'clever' performance after he made ten changes from the side which beat Tottenham 1-0 on Monday, saying: “It was an excellent performance with and without the ball. We were clever and created enough chance to score more goals."

Guardiola reserved special encouragement for the younger players in the side, including 19-year-old Brahim Diaz whose goals helped put Fulham to bed – adding: “Everybody was good. Brahim make two goals, Aro (Muric) gave us good security, every time Phil (Foden) plays a good level.

"I wouldn’t say just one in particular, we made again an excellent performance without the ball we were aggressive.

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“We played like the competition deserve and every game deserved. We are so satisfied with the victory.”

Next up in the Carabao Cup, City will face either Leicester or Southampton away in the quarter finals.