The legend of Kevin De Bruyne continues to grow at Manchester City | OneFootball

Manchester City’s Premier League fixture against Fulham tomorrow at Craven Cottage is likely the final game that Kevin De Bruyne will play for the club. It is unlikely that De Bruyne will play for the club at the upcoming FIFA Club World Cup in June. We saw the Manchester City legend say goodbye to the Etihad Stadium on Tuesday evening. That farewell was fit for a club legend, and his status at the club was clear to see based on the outpouring of emotion on display on Tuesday evening.

But just when you think that the legend of Kevin De Bruyne at Manchester City couldn’t grow any larger, a new revelation has come out today. It further solidifies De Bruyne’s status at the club. It also shows that the Belgian international gave everything both physically and mentally to the cause for his club.

Kevin De Bruyne provided  arguably the most crucial moment of his City career at the Bernabeu during the 22/23 season.

Arguably, the biggest moment for Kevin De Bruyne came during the 22/23 season. Manchester City took on Real Madrid in the semi-final of the UEFA Champions League. The first leg of the tie came at the Bernabeu. Pep Guardiola’s side needed a result to set themselves up for the second leg at the Etihad. They left the Bernabeu with a 1-all draw, and the rest is history. Kevin De Bruyne scored the equaliser on that famous night as he scored a second half stunner. It was a goal that summed up the genius and quality of De Bruyne. But the goal and De Bruyne’s performance came in trying circumstances. The fact that De Bruyne performed so well under duress further enhances his legend status at Manchester City.

De Bruyne’s performance on that night is even more remarkable given the circumstances he faced at that time.

In an interview with mancity.com, Kevin De Bruyne spoke on the circumstances that surrounded him in the lead up to that famous night. He revealed that he and his family was dealing with tragedy leading up the famous Champions League semi-final tie against Real Madrid during the 22/23 season. Speaking with mancity.com, De Bruyne explained: “It’s probably one of the best weeks and the worst that I’d ever had in my life. I remember we played on Tuesday, and my wife’s grandfather, who was really close to us, was dealing with cancer.”

“Obviously he was not really good, and I think a lot of people already said goodbye. I was basically the only one who didn’t say goodbye, so on Sunday, I flew to Belgium to say goodbye.”

“He was in really bad pain, then on Monday I had to fly here, train in the morning, then fly to Madrid and then on the Monday evening he died.”

“It was a really emotional time, then obviously the next Sunday, I had to go before the other Madrid game on Sunday or Monday to attend the funeral.”

“Then, at the time of his funeral, my grandmother died, so I had to drive five hours to say goodbye to her. It was an absolute mess.”

“I just played on pure emotion, no sleep.”

“There’s that clip where I got angry with Pep in the Madrid game because I was all over the place.”

“I did what I had to do to play football.”

Summary.

Kevin De Bruyne’s legacy at Manchester City is already established. That is never going to change. But his revelation with mancity.com about the circumstances that surrounded him before arguably his greatest triumph for Manchester City speaks volumes about the mental strength and fortitude of Kevin De Bruyne. He put personal tragedy all to one side to do what was needed for his team. It was a performance for the ages, under the most trying of circumstances. It just further solidifies De Bruyne’s status as a Manchester City legend. He gave it all for the club with physically and mentally. The image below is perhaps the best illustration of this.