Kevin De Bruyne is no longer the kid who admired Eliniv Breda and only dreamed of collaborating with him for Genk. De Bruyne will be 32 in a month and a half, and the next time he wears the Belgium national team he will celebrate 100 international appearances. Everyone agrees that this is one of the best midfielders in the world over the past decade, but at the same time his career is accompanied by a sense of a certain missed opportunity.
True, he has won 16 titles in his career, starting with the Belgian Cup with Genk in 2009, continuing with the German Cup with Wolfsburg in 2015 and ending with four league titles with Manchester City. Still, the feeling is that he could and should have gone higher. Both with Belgium and Manchester City. Belgium's "golden generation" was supposed to conquer the world. Together with Eden Hazard and Thibaut Courtois (who started his career at Genk) they reached the semi-finals of the World Cup in 2018, but nothing more. Dreams of winning the title were finally shattered at the World Cup in Qatar, when Belgium were eliminated in the group stage.
De Bruyne has been touted as an outstanding talent from a young age, and after being named Bundesliga Footballer of the Year in 2015, Manchester City bought him for €54 million. He's been there for eight years. Much thanks to him City became the best team in England. But with all due respect to the championships and trophies, the big goal was and remains the Champions League.
In his first season at City, under Chilean coach Manuel Pellegrini, he reached the semi-finals of the Champions League, but Real Madrid's hurdle was too high, although the injured Cristiano Ronaldo was not involved in the first game which ended 0-0. Real won the match, reached the final and won the title. Then Pep Guardiola arrived at City, who saw the red-headed Belgian as the one who would be both Xavi and Iniesta for him. It worked well in the league and in the various cups, but less so in the Champions League.
De Bruyne drives Bayern players crazy in the Champions League quarter-finals, Photo: EPA
"Smartest I've ever seen"
Two years ago, City finally reached the final, but for De Bruyne it was a nightmare. In the 60th minute, Antonio Rudiger, Chelsea's German defender, came in hard and fractured his eye socket. Kevin walked off the field in tears. Chelsea won 0–1 and won the cup. Last year, City met Real again in the semi-finals. They started their first game at home by storm, and after 11 minutes they led 0-2 thanks in large part to De Bruyne, who scored the first and cooked the second for Gabriel Jesus.
How it ended Everyone remembers: Rodrygo scored twice in the closing minutes of the tie at the Bernabeu, forcing extra-time, and Karim Benzema scored to hand City another painful defeat. And now it is the third time City have met Real in the semi-finals. De Bruyne is the last remnant left of City, who lost to the Blancos in 2016. And he is determined that this time it will end differently – with reaching the final and with his and the Citizens winning the Champions League for the first time. Last week everyone in Madrid was talking about Erling Haaland, who should have made the difference for City. But the Norwegian had a quiet and rather disappointing game. But when Haaland doesn't show up, De Bruyne gets injured. It happened at the Bernabeu just like in the game this season against Arsenal, when the Belgian scored twice in a 1-4 win.
De Bruyne. 'I haven't seen anyone deliver better than him,' Photo: AFP
This season has been particularly challenging for De Bruyne. Belgium's failure at the World Cup affected him dramatically, especially mentally. Pep understood this and gave him time to recover, to recharge. And it worked. In the last two months, De Bruyne has returned to being City's most influential player. He is the best cook in the Premier League - and he is also the one who scored the equaliser at the Bernabeu.
The one who knows him well is Thierry Henry, who was an assistant coach of the Belgium national team for six years. "I played with and against the best players in the world. But Kevin, he has the brightest mind of them all. I think he's the smartest player I've ever seen. I saw things in him that were just otherworldly." And Jamie Carragher, who commentates alongside Henry, said: "I've been watching football for 40 years, and I've never seen anyone deliver better than him. All he needs is to win the Champions League, so everyone understands that he is one of the greatest." Kevin De Bruyne is two games away from being there.
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