Anwar Ibrahim (Cairo)
Belgian international star Kevin De Bruyne, the star of Manchester City, was absent from his team’s matches for a long time due to injury, and his absence was influential because he is the team’s first “goal maker” and is able at the same time to score and decide when things get tough, as happened when he came on as a substitute in his team’s last match against… Newcastle United in the English Premier League, where it was able to turn the tables on the Magabies and lead the team to a wonderful 3/2 “remontada” after being defeated 1/2.
De Bruyne returned strongly and is fully prepared to fulfill City's hopes of ending the season with new glory, in cooperation with his teammates and under the leadership of the wonderful coach, Pep Guardiola, who won the title of best coach in 2023.
In its report on the impact of De Bruyne’s absence and then his return to the team, Goal International stated that this Belgian star is ready to achieve at least a “new treble” by winning the league, the Champions League and the FA Cup, to come close to achieving last season.
The report said that City suffered from other absences of its stars at different stages of the season due to injuries, as it lost the efforts of John Stones, Erling Haaland, Doku, Jack Grealish and Bernard Silva at varying periods, in addition to Rodri being suspended for 4 matches. However, none of these injuries had the same impact as the absence of De Bruyne, who was injured just 24 minutes into his team's first match against Burnley in the league.
The report confirmed that De Bruyne is the player who most influenced the course of the game during the Guardiola era, and that he is even the best player in the club’s history, noting that during his career with City he contributed 253 goals, including 98 goals he scored himself and 155 goals he created for his teammates. The report also indicated that De Bruyne has the unique ability to win matches alone and he did so in more than one match, and despite being 32 years old, when he is healthy, he appears at the top of his “form” as was the case last season when he scored 10 goals and made 31 goals, and for this reason. The website acknowledged that his absence greatly affected the team, and even forced Guardiola to change his way of playing and reorganize his ranks, as this season he included Argentine Julian Alvarez as number “10” and started him in almost all matches, even though he was only a “super” substitute last season.
The report did not fail to point out that City won its first six matches this season in De Bruyne's absence, but the impact of his absence soon became apparent after that, as evidenced by the fact that the team only won 4 of the 11 matches it played during the period from the end of September until the New Year's holidays. It is true that the team missed many goals in these matches, but it severely lacked speed in moving the attack and making decisive passes, which is the role that De Bruyne performs successfully and competently.
The report also relied on Pep Guardiola’s statements after the “Belgian’s” return, when he said: De Bruyne is an exceptional and unique player of his kind, and I am very happy for his return after a long absence. The website admitted at the end of the report that City's rivals, “Arsenal, Liverpool, Aston Villa, Tottenham, Newcastle” and others, did not succeed in benefiting from the absence of this “exceptional” star in their matches against “The Blue Moon.”
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