De Bruyne: We need this trophy if we want to be seen as all-time greats

KEVIN DE BRUYNE believes winning the Champions League is the final hurdle before Pep Guardiola’s Manchester City can be viewed as one of the all-time great teams. City have won eight major domestic trophies since 2018 and are chasing a fourth Premier League title in five years, but a crowning European triumph has eluded them. Guardiola guided them to a first Champions League final last year, losing to Chelsea, and De Bruyne recognises that, for some, that prize needs to be in the club’s cabinet if they are to be heralded as one of the best in history. ‘Winning it would change the perspective from the outside,’ said De Bruyne. ‘We’ve been fighting for numerous years

and getting to the latter stages. We’ve been doing really well. But we’ve not won it yet and that is probably the only criticism we can get. Winning it would change that little narrative.’ City take a one-goal lead to the Bernabeu for tonight’s semi-final second leg after last week’s seven-goal classic. Guardiola has been given a boost by the return of Kyle Walker, who is in the squad after an ankle injury, but John Stones remains sidelined. De Bruyne believes they have the tools to progress.

‘We’ve been there loads of times, always fighting to win this competition,’ he added. ‘The consistency we’ve had has been amazing. We just need to try to get over the line. This is another step. If we are a little bit below that there is the possibility Madrid can win because they are also one of the best teams in the world. I back my team to perform at the necessary level to win.’ Guardiola is wary of leaning on the experience of City’s two-legged victory over Madrid in the last 16 in 2020. He said: ‘The question is: what do you learn from this experience? If you don’t learn anything, you make the same mistakes. When you think, “I have been there and I know how to handle the situation,” that helps but it is not a guarantee. It doesn’t mean we will play good. ‘Probably we will have to play better than last week. But at the same time, we can play much, much worse and win. Nobody knows.’