When Kevin de Bruyne hobbled off on the opening night of the season, Manchester City fans feared for the worst. His injury that he picked up at Turf Moor kept him out for five months. But the Belgium is back, as he is impacting games again, making a real difference to Manchester City’s title charge.
De Bruyne has now scored his 100th goal for Manchester City, scoring a cracking brace at Selhurst Park, his first goals since February, scoring against FC Copenhagen in the Champions League. Since his return for injury in January, he has featured in 14 of the last 18 City games.
In eleven Premier League appearances this season, de Bruyne has three goals and six assists. In this season’s FA Cup, the midfielder has an impressive five assists in three appearances. He has also played just a single Champions League game this campaign, and has a goal and two assists.
Even in this small sample size, de Bruyne is still having an affect on games, and contributing outstanding numbers at this crucial stage of the season.
City have three trophies still up for grabs, after winning the Club World Cup in December. Embroiled in a three horse race for the Premier League title, de Bruyne has returned to the side and maintained City’s chase, despite sitting third.
Manchester City found themselves under the cosh early on against Crystal Palace but de Bruyne curled in an absolute beauty to equaliser. His second was wonderfully slammed home, which put the game beyond reach for Oliver Glasner’s side.
Despite missing a large chunk of the season, de Bruyne has returned and produced some outstanding performances. Pep Guardiola was raving about the 32 year-old after he reached a century of goals.
“For many years he has been one of the best players for our club,” Guardiola said.
“What he has done in England has been unbelievable. Many goals, assists and consistency. We had four or five months without him and now we need him at the end of the season.
“I think he likes to score goals but I don’t know if he enjoys it more to make an assist. He is so generous with that – but he has to continue.”
De Bruyne is chasing down a sixth title with Manchester City, and even though he was struck down with injury, he has more than played his part in the team this season, producing wonderful goals, assists as he continues to demonstrate why he is one of the Premier League greats.
