Kevin De Bruyne picked up an injury during Man City’s Champions League final vs Chelsea and his substitution was one of the main reasons why Pep Guardiola’s side looked so toothless in attack during the final phase of the match.
De Bruyne picked up the knock around his nose and eye region after a clash of heads with Chelsea defender Antonio Rudiger. And after lengthy treatment on the pitch, the playmaker had to be finally replaced by Gabriel Jesus.
Kevin De Bruyne was eventually taken to the hospital and after being released, the midfielder has revealed the status of his injuries.
De Bruyne posted on Twitter: ‘Hi guys just got back from the hospital. My diagnosis is Acute nose bone fracture and left orbital fracture. I feel okay now. Still disappointed about yesterday obviously but we will be back’.
Hi guys just got back from the hospital. My diagnosis is Acute nose bone fracture and left orbital fracture. I feel okay now. Still disappointed about yesterday obviously but we will be back
— Kevin De Bruyne (@DeBruyneKev) May 30, 2021
The incident did not go down well with the Belgium manager since Roberto Martinez has labelled the tackle reckless and has also claimed that the Chelsea defender should have been sent off.
Martinez said, as quoted: ‘For me, Rudiger is very, very fortunate. When you look at the replay, there’s no clash of heads.
‘He’s properly leaving the shoulder against Kevin. He seems concussed and we will see the state of that. But that leaves a sour taste, because Rudiger’s holding his head, it’s almost that he wants to show that he’s hiding something.
Kevin De Bruyne confirmed he suffered an acute nose bone fracture and left orbital fracture during Saturday’s Champions League final.
Belgium’s first Euro 2020 match is in 13 days 🙏 pic.twitter.com/PNJz8xVHxx
— B/R Football (@brfootball) May 30, 2021
‘For me, it was excessive force and it was reckless. And it should have been a red card. Kevin is not a player that goes down for no reason. You can see the pain and it’s a swollen eye.’
Antonio Rudiger obviously did not mean any malice with the tackle and all he was trying to do was stop Kevin De Bruyne from making the forward run.
Rudiger wrote: ‘I’m really sorry for @DeBruyneKev’s injury. Of course this was not intentional from me – I’ve already been in touch with Kevin personally and I really wish him a speedy recovery & hope we can see him back on the pitch very soon again.’
The incident was surely not a red card offence but we can understand the frustration from the Belgium manager since Kevin De Bruyne is one of his most important players and now he is on the verge of missing out from the Euros.
Belgium play two friendly matches against Greece and Croatia in the first week of June and then they kick off their Euro campaign against Russia on the 12th of June. Kevin De Bruyne is obviously facing a race against time to be fit and it will honestly be a miracle if he can be fully fit before the start of the tournament.