In the pecking order for Pep Guardiola’s affections, the Manchester City manager recently suggested only his wife was ahead of Ilkay Gundogan.
“I’m married but I adore him,” Guardiola said when almost tearfully contemplating the scenario of Gundogan walking away from Manchester in the summer.
There was a bit of a tiff last weekend when Gundogan accepted Erling Haaland ’s penalty offer and duly missed but you can bet the German is feeling Pep’s love again.
Don’t forget, the pair have been together for a long time, Gundogan being the first official signing of Guardiola’s City era. And, arguably, there has been no player more important to Guardiola’s project than Gundogan has been.
His goals against Aston Villa in the final game won the title last season and the couple in this bloodless triumph will surely go a long way to securing another Premier League pennant. Throw in an assist for Haaland’s 52nd goal of the season and this was pretty much the complete performance from a 32-year-old who is out of contract in a few weeks time.
When Guardiola comes up with a plan to break down teams who go to extreme defensive lengths - such as those fielded by Sam Allardyce and Sean Dyche - Gundogan comes into his own.
He comes into his own because of his intelligence and his instinct to ghost into dangerous positions from deep. He is so often the midfielder who fails to get picked up. That is what happened just after the half-hour mark when he expertly collected a clipped Riyad Mahrez pass and applied an ingenious, hooked finish.
And that is what happened a couple of minutes later when he smuggled himself down the left side of Everton ’s defence and picked out Haaland, who scored with a firm header and his third touch of the match.
Gundogan’s second goal, which ended any unlikely doubts about the outcome, showcased his dead ball skills, although Jordan Pickford probably should have managed to get a lot closer to the right-footed curler than he did.
Six minutes into the second half, City had scored three in less than half an hour’s play and that was that.
The visitors began to think about Real Madrid and the hosts began to think about Wolverhampton Wanderers, although, slightly surprisingly, Guardiola left it until the 78th minute to withdraw Haaland.
Having said that, for long periods of this game, Haaland was as good as resting as City simply knocked it about in front of him and a packed home defence.
For a while, Dyche’s plan looked like it just might pay off - Mason Holgate ballooned one great first half chance into the Park end - but we should have known better. This was the 16th time Dyche had crossed swords with Guardiola and he has now lost 15 and drawn one, his teams conceding 49 and scoring five.
Pep should get to keep him soon.
But while this was a comprehensive defeat, there was the odd sign Everton might have enough to get what they require out of the visit to Molineux and a home game with Bournemouth.
As for City and Guardiola, they go into the showdown with Real Madrid, in good heart.
And at Goodison Park, Pep’s heart again belonged to Ilkay.
