Manchester City and Kevin De Bruyne are having a spectacular season. After they eliminated Real Madrid in the semifinals, a historic treble is still within reach: Champions League, Premier League and FA Cup.
They’re favorites to hoist the trophy against Inter Milan in the final thanks to a spectacular roster led by names such as Erling Haaland, Jack Grealish, Bernardo Silva and, of course, De Bruyne.
However, during the match for the title, Kevin De Bruyne had a very unfortunate incident at Istanbul. Read here to find out what happened and why, once again, the Champions League final was terrible for the Belgian player.
Manchester City vs Inter: Kevin De Bruyne’s injury in the Champions League final
Kevin de Bruyne suffered a right leg injury in minute 30′ and was replaced by Phil Foden before halftime (36′). He had been carrying that problem during the last few weeks as Pep Guardiola didn’t use him in the final games of the Premier League.
In the 2021 Champions League , De Bruyne also had to leave the final of the tournament in minute 60′ after a huge hit in the face by Antonio Rüdiger . Gabriel Jesus took his place on the field and Chelsea won 1-0 over Manchester City. It was a major disappointment for him ending up in tears.
Kevin De Bruyne’s recent injury came during a game against Arsenal in the Premier League on April 26. Though Manchester City won that match 4-1 at home, the star had to leave the field in minute 80′ substituted by Julian Alvarez.
From that moment on, Pep Guardiola was very careful in the distribution of playing time for the midfielder. However, he looked just fine last week in the FA Cup final facing Manchester United at Wembley. He was in the starting lineup and played 76 minutes. Today, he was unlucky again at the Champions League.
Kevin De Bruyne is just the second player in soccer history to have an injury twice in Champions League finals. Dani Carvajal suffered the same fate in 2016 and 2018 with Real Madrid.