Kevin De Bruyne injury update: Man City star leaves another Champions League final with injured hamstring

Kyle Bonn

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Kevin De Bruyne injury update: Man City star leaves another Champions League final with injured hamstring image

Kevin de Bruyne has simply awful injury luck in big games.

The Man City playmaker was withdrawn from the 2023 Champions League final in the 36th minute, seemingly suffering a hamstring or other soft tissue injury.

After going down to one knee in the 30th minute, de Bruyne attempted to continue but was unable to do so, coming off minutes later with Phil Foden entering the field in his place.

With the game still scoreless at the time of his exit, Man City were forced to figure out how to break down Simone Inzaghi's defensive structure without their most creatively brilliant player.

MORE: Recap the match in full as Man City top Inter in the Champions League final

Kevin de Bruyne injury update

The 31-year-old went down right on the half-hour mark, on his knees and asking for treatment, not appearing to be fit to continue.

He attempted to stay on, but looked shaken in the following minutes, and after attempting to complete a sprint on the ball and send in a cross, he knew he couldn't continue. The Belgian signaled to the bench that he needed to be substituted off.

After the match, which Man City won 1-0 on a goal from Rodri, de Bruyne was asked about his injury during the celebrations. He confirmed it was his hamstring that he injured, and said it was something he's been managing for a while now.

"It's been a hard two months for me, I've had a lot of issues with my hamstring," de Bruyne said, before confirming that his hamstring "snapped." If he means that literally, it will be a while on the sidelines for the Belgian, who would surely miss Belgium's summer matches as well as potentially the start of next season for Man City as well. However, watching the interview, it's also possible that he just used that word without a perfect grasp of English and doesn't mean it exactly.

Kevin de Bruyne injury history for Champions League final

What makes this break so devastating for Kevin de Bruyne is that it's happened before on this same massive stage, just two years prior.

In the 2021 Champions League final against Chelsea, de Bruyne was forced off in the 60th minute after an ugly collision with Antonio Rudiger. De Bruyne suffered an orbital fracture and concussion, and could not continue.

The Belgian told Italian media before the match that he was hoping to enjoy a less physical match this time around. "I'd never broken anything in my life and I came out of the 2021 UCL Final with a broken nose and concussion," de Bruyne said to Gazzetta dello Sport. "I hope this time it will be different."

Soft tissue injuries have cropped up from time to time in de Bruyne's career, but it's not exactly anything out of the ordinary. The worst season for de Bruyne from an injury perspective was 2018/19 season when he missed eight Man City matches with various muscle injuries, also saw him left out of eight straight international matches for Belgium. He missed seven games through the winter of the 2020/21 season with a hamstring problem. Otherwise, there's not much to speak of for his injury history.

Unfortunately, they've just seemed to come at the worst possible times.

How have Man City performed without Kevin de Bruyne

The lack of Kevin de Bruyne's presence in the Man City perspective was stark, as he remains one of the most creatively brilliant players in the world.

Yet Pep Guardiola has largely been able to keep the team ticking over at a high level without him.

This season, in 11 matches without the Belgian across all competitions, Man City won eight, drew two, and lost just one, scoring 29 goals for an average of 2.6 goals per match. That's nearly equivalent to the numbers with de Bruyne in the lineup, winning 33 of 45 games while scoring 115 goals, also an average of 2.6 goals per match.

Still, Man City fans will know what happened last time that de Bruyne went off injured in the Champions League final, as they failed to score in a 1-0 defeat to Chelsea.

Indeed, this time around, they managed to do the business with de Bruyne on the sidelines, as Rodri's goal was enough to power them to their first European title in club history.

Kyle Bonn

Kyle Bonn Photo

Kyle Bonn, is a Syracuse University broadcast journalism graduate with over a decade of experience covering soccer globally. Kyle specializes in soccer tactics and betting, with a degree in data analytics. Kyle also does TV broadcasts for Wake Forest soccer, and has had previous stops with NBC Soccer and IMG College. When not covering the game, he has long enjoyed loyalty to the New York Giants, Yankees, and Fulham. Kyle enjoys playing racquetball and video games when not watching or covering sports.