Kevin De Bruyne revealed his hamstring “snapped” during Manchester City’s Champions League final win over Inter Milan.
The Belgian was forced off due to injury two years ago in the final against Chelsea and cruelly had to make another premature exit in Istanbul, limping off in the first-half against Inter after initially trying to continue.
In his absence, Rodri struck after the break to give City a 1-0 win that ended their wait for Champions League glory and secured the Treble, moving them alongside Manchester United’s 1998/99 side in English football’s history books.
Speaking after the match, De Bruyne confirmed that it was a hamstring problem that forced him off against Inter.
“It’s been a hard two months,” De Bruyne told BT Sport.
“I had a lot of issues with my hamstring. It snapped. It is what it is, I did everything to be okay. It’s a shame, because I felt really good in the first half an hour and I felt I was doing well. But the team is good enough and we won, so that’s it.”
City were certainly not at their best in the final, struggling for large periods to break Inter down and then having to ride their luck late on, as Federico Dimarco and Romelu Lukaku went close to equalising for the Italian side.
De Bruyne’s reaction seemed to be one of relief rather than jubilation, as City finally secured the trophy that had up to this point eluded them.
“It’s amazing, we’ve been working so long for this,” De Bruyne said.
“The history for the club and for everything that we did as a team, I think we fully deserve it. We’ve not lost in the Champions League this year.
“It wasn’t the best game, but finals are always difficult and now it’s time to celebrate.”
