Kevin De Bruyne admitted his wife knows best after revealing she predicted Manchester City would win the Champions League at the start of the season.
Michele Lacroix told her husband back in August that City would finally conquer Europe and told him on the morning of the final it was their destiny to lift the iconic trophy.
“I don’t know why, but my wife said in August ‘you’re going to win the Champions League’,” said De Bruyne.
“I’ve no idea why, but she always maintained that I would. She said today, before the game, ‘I’m not worried, you’ll be fine, you’ll win it’.
“In the end it’s a little bit of a shame, because I have to tell her she was right, so that’s not the best!”
As he stood in the bowels of the Ataturk Stadium with his winner's medal around his neck, De Bruyne admitted he was struggling to take in the fact he had finally conquered Europe with City.
“My head feels a little bit empty for the moment,” said the Belgium international. “It’s just amazing, it’s incredible, I don’t know what to say.
“I’ve basically been fighting all my career with my team to win this medal, but I still don’t think it defines my career.
“I think it helps, but I don’t judge myself or my career solely on this game. I know who I am as a player and person and I'm happy and proud of the person I am.
“People can say so much about you, but if you’re satisfied with yourself, do what you need to do and give your all, you can be proud, no matter what. But obviously, you want to win.
“Even if the game wasn’t the best, we did what we had to do to win and that was the difference compared to two years ago.”
Asked if he felt joy or relief at finally winning the Champions League, De Bruyne said: “Probably both, because there’s always the pressure to do it when you've never done it, and now we have.
“But we’ve not lost one game in the Champions League this season, so I think we deserve it.”
De Bruyne, 31, was forced off in City's defeat to Chelsea in the 2021 final with a broken nose and fractured eye socket, and endured the same fate again, a hamstring injury ending his night after 36 minutes.
Rather than wallowing in self-pity, he took up the role of coach and motivator from the sidelines in the final moments of the game, willing his team-mates to get over the line.
“I just wanted to help my team in one way or another,” said De Bruyne. “I had the injury and I had to come off, but I wanted to help my team in any way possible and I did what I needed to do.
“I’ve been struggling for two months. It was all small ruptures, but today I snapped it, so I wasn’t able to go on. But I felt okay. I felt the team was able to manage it and do their job.
“The injury is never nice, but I was there for my team and did what I needed to do.
“I also had some personal things that happened with my family on top of that and I managed that.
“I gave everything for my team and the people in the club know that. I feel proud I’ve been able to do what I did.
“The season has been so long, so we should just enjoy this moment. With the World Cup in the middle, it’s been such a long season. We’ve played 60 or 70 games.
“We’ve had subdued parties up until now, but now we can really enjoy it for a couple of days, as we should.”
