Guardiola compares De Bruyne-Foden to Barca’s Xavi-Iniesta

Man City boss Pep Guardiola

Pep Guardiola has drawn parallels between Kevin De Bruyne and Phil Foden, likening their dynamic partnership to Barcelona duo of Xavi Hernandez and Andres Iniesta as the Manchester City boss expresses his joy at the return of De Bruyne from an injury.

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De Bruyne came off the bench in the second half of City's 5-0 win against Huddersfield in the FA Cup third round on Sunday night. Playing for the first time since the opening day of the Premier League season against Burnley in August, the day's loudest cheer was reserved for De Bruyne, who took only 17 minutes to claim his first assist of the season.

"I'm always a big fan first of talent, so why can't their talent be joined together," Guardiola was quoted by Man City's website. "When I was in Barcelona people used to say, ‘no, Xavi and Iniesta, these guys cannot play together' and I said, why not? Why not? They are good, intelligent and smart and normally we associate that talent with they cannot defend. This is not true," added Guardiola.

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