Man City star Kevin De Bruyne says it took 15 MINUTES to plan tactics against Manchester United

Kevin De Bruyne has revealed that Manchester City spent just 15 minutes preparing the false-nine tactics which put their arch-rivals Manchester United to the sword in Tuesday’s Carabao Cup clash.

Pep Guardiola’s men raced into a 3-0 lead inside 38 minutes to shellshock the Red Devils at Old Trafford in the first leg of their semi final.

Marcus Rashford pulled a goal back for Ole Gunnar Solskjaer’s side after the interval, but they face an uphill struggle to progress to the final when they head to the Etihad for the second leg on January 29.

Bernardo Silva played a starring role for City in an unfamiliar number nine role, with strikers Sergio Aguero and Gabriel Jesus both named on the bench.

And Guardiola’s decision to start with Silva was vindicated as he scored a brilliant opene and had a hand in both of City’s other goals in a devastating first-half display.

When asked how long City spent practising their formation for the crunch encounter, De Bruyne replied: “We did 15 minutes on Tuesday morning. That’s about it.”

He added: “I think overall we played well. The second half they tried to put a bit more pressure on us and we made one mistake and they scored from it.

“I don’t think they had a lot of chances and I think we should have scored more but in the end 3-1 is a good advantage. We know it is not over but obviously it was a good game for us.”

The result maintained Guardiola’s incredible record in English cup competitions.

The Spaniard has been on the losing side just three times in 34 domestic cup appearances, the last of which came almost two years ago when Wigan beat City in the FA Cup fifth round in February 2018.

Guardiola has already won the Carabao Cup twice and recorded his first FA Cup success last May as the champions destroyed Watford 6-0 in the final.