Manchester City are the champions of Europe, but spare a thought for Kevin De Bruyne who may not be enjoying this crowning moment as much as he probably should.
Indeed, while Saturday was a brilliant night for City, there is bound to be some level of internal disappointment for De Bruyne as he had to come off early in the final due to injury.
Sadly, this is the second time De Bruyne has had to be substituted in a Champions League final, and while that is frustrating, it could light a flame inside De Bruyne to come back even stronger.
That’s the view of Mark Schwarzer who was speaking on the GegenPod about the Belgian, and he’s tipped De Bruyne to write his own fairytale ending in the Champions League, tipping him to emulate Mo Salah and come back and make his mark in another Champions League final after injury disappointment this time around.
De Bruyne will be back
Schwarzer gave his verdict on the £54m midfielder.
“He’s never quite been able to do it on the highest stage. We’re putting a lot on his shoulders, and we’re quite critical of that. The fact he’s missed out on two finals with injury means he’s never been able to show it at this level, and that’s the biggest shame. Hopefully he gets a third chance one day. We’ve seen it before with Mo Salah, Salah had to come off in that final, and then he had the chance to make amends and win another final, playing 90 minutes and scoring a goal. Hopefully there’s a fairytale ending for De Bruyne too in the future,” Schwarzer said.
Driven
De Bruyne is exactly the type of player who will be back with a vengeance in the future.
The midfielder is just one of those players. He holds himself to the highest of standards, and he will want to write his own name in the Champions League history books with an iconic final performance.
Salah was the difference maker for Liverpool one year after being injured in a final, and it wouldn’t surprise us one bit of De Bruyne follows that same trajectory.
