Pep Guardiola hailed ‘phenomenal’ Kevin de Bruyne after the Manchester City midfielder returned to form with two goals in a 7-0 demolition of Leeds.

City extended their lead at the top of the table to four points with their biggest win of the season, as Phil Foden, Jack Grealish, Riyad Mahrez, John Stones and Nathan Ake also got on the scoresheet.

But on De Bruyne’s first goals since October, boss Guardiola said: ‘He’s phenomenal. We need him. He’s so important for us. He is devastating. He can do what he wants.’

De Bruyne was making his first Premier League start in a month after contracting coronavirus and he ran the show against struggling Leeds, scoring the goal of the night with a thunderous long-range strike.

‘He is humble enough to accept he has to work,’ added Guardiola. ‘He trained really well in the last two days and in a type of game like this, which is a little bit more open, he is the best.

‘We are really pleased because we miss him. We have been together six seasons and what he has done for me is everything.

‘We are very pleased he is coming back, step by step, because he struggled at the beginning of the season a lot. Hopefully, now he can retain this rhythm longer because we need him.’

De Bruyne added: ‘A lot has happened this year, a little bit out of my control. At the time I was coming back, I got Covid. It happened and now we are working hard to come back to a good level.

‘I think we played incredibly well.’

Guardiola also praised the Manchester City fans, having previously criticised poor attendances at the Etihad, especially at midweek games.

‘The vibe of the stadium was phenomenal,’ he added. ‘It was sold out, when this happens the players felt it, thank you so much to all of them. To give this performance to them was a pleasure.’

Marcelo Bielsa, meanwhile, was left to reflect on Leeds’ worst ever Premier League defeat and the first time he has conceded seven goals in his long managerial career.

‘It is the worst performance in four years,’ the Whites boss said. ‘It’s not that City played very well. It’s a lot more noticeable how badly we played than how well City played.

‘City plays like this all the time, or similar to it, but we have never played so badly in these four years.

‘What I proposed and what the game needed, was not good enough. You can deflect the attention when some things work and some things don’t but when nothing works, it is the decisions of the one in charge that defines what happen.’