De Bruyne is back and looks to help Man City win more trophies this season.
Kevin De Bruyne’s return has delighted the Manchester City fans as he made a huge impactful comeback on the pitch. The Belgian grabbed an assist in his first game back during their 5-0 FA Cup win against Huddersfield and then grabbed a goal and another assist in the 3-2 win against Newcastle United in the Premier League.
De Bruyne has come at the right time of the season, as City and many teams will have a heavily tight schedule in February. Man City will be playing Spurs in the FA Cup next week and will play Burnley in their next Premier League game. With February approaching, the Champions League is also coming soon as Man City will play FC Kobenhavn in Denmark.
De Bruyne talked about his time away from the pitch and mentioned his calm time with his family during his injury. De Bruyne says, “A bit more normal, relax a bit. During rehab, I had a very normal life. Trained during the day, in the evening spend time with the children. What normal people actually do. I think my body has calmed down a bit.”
De Bruyne mentions that even though he enjoyed more time with family, injuries could cause issues like getting back into shape for games that require high intensity. De Bruyne states, “Even if you’re injured four or five weeks during the season, after a few weeks, you have that drive again to play as quickly as possible. Now, that wasn’t the case. I knew I really had three to four months to train my body properly to be better and stronger.”
“After about ten years at this pace, I might have needed that. To get everything back on track. Mentally, it has just become calm. Having no stress for a few months makes a difference,” says De Bruyne about his stress-free time out. De Bruyne might have needed to rest for months as the schedule City has will be intense for everyone in the squad.
Kevin De Bruyne blames the schedule of games that causes injuries to him and other players
De Bruyne feels excited to come back and compete, but he does acknowledge the schedule is tough on him and other players’ bodies. Man City will be playing six games in February alone while playing two at the end of this month. De Bruyne says, “I think I’m better prepared [after injury]. The problem is our schedule. We live from match to match, have to play every three days. We always have to recover from those efforts, we don’t have time to train. Never time to really strengthen your body properly.”