Guardiola confirms De Bruyne’s injury is the same as in CL final

Manchester City manager Pep Guardiola confirmed to the media that the problem that saw him replace Kevin de Bruyne against Burnley was a recurrence of the injury that ruled the Belgium international out of the Champions League final.

“Yes, he is injured again. He told me it was the same problem as last year. We have to go back and do an analysis with the medical team,” Guardiola told Sky Sports.

“Kevin felt good and played really well in the first few minutes. But unfortunately he is injured again. Maybe he shouldn’t have started, but what happened in the first 15 minutes could happen in the 50th, 65th or 70th minute,” added the Spanish specialist.

On the occasion of Erling Haaland’s goals, Guardiola said: “The first games are important to see what our mood is. It’s always delicate to play against a team that comes from the Championship. We didn’t expect them to play with five in defense, but we still scored.”

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Brighton hands Man City and Pep fourth consecutive defeat

Pep Guardiola confirms that Kevin de Bruyne injured his hamstring against Burnley and will be out for an unknown amount of time. pic.twitter.com/BXMpdUpX4W

— NBC Sports Soccer (@NBCSportsSoccer) August 11, 2023

“It’s a good start after two months without football. A good start with a win, of course. I saw that Julián Alvarez had a lot of space in front of him and I knew that if I got the ball I had to shoot, so I did,” Haaland said after the match.