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Manchester Evening News
Manchester Evening News
Sport
Isaac Johnson

Roberto Martinez explains why Man City star Kevin De Bruyne has lacked form for Belgium

De Bruyne Roberto Martinez Kevin De Bruyne Belgium Manchester City Pep Guardiola World Cup

Belgium head coach Roberto Martinez says the weight of expectation on his players is hampering the squad's output at the World Cup, reasoning that this is why fans have not yet seen the best of Kevin De Bruyne.

The Manchester City maestro has cut a frustrated figure amid his country’s lacklustre performances in both of their group games so far. Belgium edged a 1-0 win over Canada despite a poor display but succumbed to a shock 2-0 defeat to Morocco on Sunday.

After the victory over Canada, De Bruyne said there was “no chance” Belgium would win the World Cup due to the squad being “too old”. Indeed just one of the starting XI against Morocco was under the age of 29 with Belgium’s squad being the fifth-oldest in the tournament behind Iran, Mexico, Brazil and Argentina.

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