Journalist Tyrone Marshall has hinted at a potential fitness issue regarding Kevin De Bruyne following his latest Manchester City appearance against Real Madrid.
The midfielder started and provided two assists in the 4-0 win over Carlo Ancelotti’s side in midweek, helping the Citizens secure their place in next month’s Champions League final.
However, with the Belgian being taken off in the second half to be replaced by Phil Foden in the 84th minute, one journalist noticed something about De Bruyne that could be a cause for concern behind the scenes for City.
Marshall highlights De Bruyne fitness worry
Speaking on a recent edition of the Manchester Evening News’ Talking City podcast, Marshall said this about De Bruyne and his fitness.
He said: “The effort De Bruyne puts in is unbelievable. We all know he’s a bit of a moody chap at times. We’ve probably all seen the clip of his argument with [Pep] Guardiola and telling Guardiola where to go when he’s told him to pass the ball.
“Just before he put the cross in for [Manuel] Akanji’s goal he looked absolutely dead on his feet. For someone who didn’t play at the weekend, it was quite interesting how exhausted he was, whether he’s carrying something or there’s something going on there.
“It was surprising, we know how much he puts into games, but it was surprising to see how wiped out he looked in the final 20 minutes when he hadn’t played.”
As Marshall mentioned, the 31-year-old didn’t feature in last weekend’s 3-0 win over Everton, which makes it easy to see why the journalist picked up on how exhausted De Bruyne looked in the latter stages of Wednesday’s match.
Bearing in mind how the midfielder has scored 10 goals and delivered 28 assists across all competitions this season, it’s safe to say that Guardiola would hope that there are no fitness issues and that the Belgian is fully capable of seeing out the remainder of the season.
