Manchester City boss Pep Guardiola has expressed his joy that midfielder Kevin De Bruyne has returned from injury.
De Bruyne suffered a hamstring injury in August of last year after playing just 23 minutes in City’s 2023-24 Premier League opener, a 3-0 win at Burnley. After being out for over five months, the Belgian made his comeback in their FA Cup third-round encounter against Huddersfield Town on January 7.
He came off the bench in the 57th minute, with his team leading 2-0 at the Etihad Stadium, to replace attacker Julian Alvarez. Only 17 minutes later, De Bruyne set up Jeremy Doku for the last goal in Manchester City’s 5-0 demolition of the Championship outfit with a superb dinked pass from the right side.
According to ESPN, Guardiola praised the talismanic midfielder after the game, calling him a match-winner:
“He had a lot of good minutes.” He must accumulate training sessions in addition to games. We are thrilled that he has been restored to us. There are few individuals on the planet who can help Kevin win games. Kevin and [Erling] Haaland are game changers.
“We’ve known one other for a long time. He have a rare ability to execute something tough to obtain. With all of our runners today, having someone who can find these passes is exceptional; the quality of the assist for Jeremy’s goal.”
De Bruyne got 46 touches and completed 28 of his 35 pass attempts (80% accuracy) during his time on the field. He made an important pass and fired an off-target shot while winning a foul and one of his two duels.
Prior to his entrance, Phil Foden had given Manchester City a 1-0 lead in the 33rd minute, which Alvarez doubled only four minutes later. Ben Jackson’s own goal put the Citizens up 3-0 only a minute after De Bruyne came in.
In the 65th minute, Foden scored his second and City’s fourth goal before Doku completed the scoring.
Kevin De Bruyne responds to Manchester City's comeback triumph on social media
After making his return, Kevin De Bruyne took to X (formerly Twitter) to issue a message. Manchester City midfielder Gabriel Jesus captioned two photos of himself in action versus Huddersfield Town:
“Guess who’s back?!”
City and De Bruyne now have almost a week off before meeting Newcastle United in the Premier League on Saturday, January 13. The Magpies are coming off a 3-0 Tyne-Wear derby victory against Sunderland in the FA Cup third round.
