De Bruyne The flawless Player For Pellegrini

"It's petty when you think about it, isn't it, when there are people there at UEFA who are being accused of walking off with millions, that we get done for just a few fans booing", he explained. "I don't see any problems at the moment".

"I never played so much in my life as a striker to be honest", De Bruyne said afterwards.

Despite that, De Bruyne's goal has given them a real chance of a place in the last 16 and a big boost before they face Manchester United in the derby in the Premier League on Sunday. Other players must wait.

The Bundesliga Player of the Year has also been the chief provider in this period, picking up from his unbelievable games-to-assists ratio he enjoyed at Wolfsburg by creating a further five goals for his new teammates.

City have already won four games in a row while United have picked up a mixed run of results, suffering a 3-0 loss to Arsenal two weeks ago before beating Everton 3-0 at the weekend. Every week I have to choose the starting Xi that I think is best for that game. Kompany has played just two minutes for the club since defying his manager's wishes by featuring for Belgium in a Euro 2016 qualifier against Israel.

He does, however still retain a fondness for the side that memorably pipped United to the title in 2012 despite trailing by eight points with six games to go.

It is understood the matter was reported by a match delegate after the anthem was jeered by home fans prior to City's Champions League victory over Sevilla at the Etihad Stadium on Wednesday. "Even though we didn't have our best game, in the end we tried everything to look for the victory and thankfully in the end we could score", he said.

Elsehwhere City are in the midst of a bit of an injury crisis, with star men Sergio Aguero and David Silva still out.

"I'm not punishing Vincent".

On a night of traffic gridlock in Manchester, which caught out Everton manager and BT Sport's pundit for the night Roberto Martinez as well as hundreds of latecomers, it was one-way traffic for City in the opening moments, with Wilfried Bony and De Bruyne both going close.

"Everyone has the right to express how they feel".

Speaking at a press conference, Pellegrini said: "The only thing that I thought was that Yaya was changing his armband because he thought he was leaving the pitch, but it was not Yaya, it was Kevin De Bruyne".