De Bruyne cuts a disconsolate figure during a trying night in Barcelona
Kevin De Bruyne insists Manchester City have no reason to panic after their Barcelona mauling extend their winless sequence to four games.
The Belgium playmaker believes City can respond to the 4-0 loss by beating the Spanish champions when the sides meet again in the Champions League in a fortnight's time.
City's belief in playing out from defence backfired spectacularly at the
Kevin De Bruyne insists Manchester City have no reason to be afraid after their Barcelona defeat extend their winless grouping to four games.
The Belgium playmaker trusts City can react to the 4-0 misfortune by beating the Spanish champions when the sides meet again in the Champions League in a fortnight's chance.
City's confidence in playing out from defense backfired to a great extent at the Nou Camp as Claudio Bravo was sent off for handball in the wake of leaving his region and losing possession.
Yet until that pivotal moment in the 53rd minute, City had been holding their own and were trailing only 1-0, and De Bruyne retains full belief in manager Pep Guardiola's tactics.
He said: "Obviously if you lose 4-0 it's bad, but I think the way we want to play is the good way. Even a good team like Barcelona didn't have it as easy as people thought.
"I think it's the right way. We didn't play badly. We could have scored goals, we had almost the same amount of possession and almost the same amount of goalscoring opportunities.
"We made mistakes but, okay, it happens. In the end they scored four. It looks bad but I don't think we should feel bad.
"People can say whatever they want, this is the way we need to play and we will win a lot of games like this."
City have now gone four games without a win in all competitions subsequent to winning their past 10 at the start of the season, however De Bruyne sees reason for caution.
Asked if City could turn the tables on Barca at the Etihad Stadium, he said: "Yes, why not?
"Obviously people are going to say we're never going to win but I don't care what people say. We'll just do the same and I'm sure we'll be ready for this game."
De Bruyne was conveyed a 'false nine' after Guardiola settled on the astounding choice to leave best scorer Sergio Aguero on the seat for pressing the midfield.
That arrangement unravelled after Bravo's red card as Lionel Messi finished the 37th hat-trick of his Barca career and Neymar included the fourth goal.
Of his role, De Bruyne said: "I'm not used to playing it. I did it a couple of times (previously). Obviously it's not my best position but I'll do what the coach asks me to do and do my job."
While the issues concerning Aguero and Bravo hogged the headlines on Wednesday, the absence of captain Vincent Kompany received relatively little attention.
Kompany, after recovering from his recent groin problem sufficiently to play as a substitute against Everton on Saturday, travelled to Catalonia but did not make the matchday squad.
The defensive options on the bench were both full-backs in Gael Clichy - who replaced the injured Pablo Zabaleta in the second half - and 19-year-old Pablo Maffeo.
"That's Pep's choice. He must have had his reasons," said De Bruyne on the matter.
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