Kevin de Bruyne
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The world’s best soccer player who isn’t a world soccer player
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Strategist without big sayings: Kevin De Bruyne.
Photo: dpa/Dave Thompson
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Düsseldorf Lionel Messi and Cristiano Ronaldo are in the spotlight, but Manchester City’s Kevin de Bruyne is seen by many as the scene’s quiet superstar. What makes him special and what star coach Pep Guardiola says about the Belgian.
As an occasional double for Prince Harry (37), he has not been able to appear for some time. The Duke of Sussex has planted a heavy Viking beard on his face for this, and the reddish shock of hair in the back of the head is also thinning alarmingly. Kevin De Bruyne (30), on the other hand, still has a full head of hair, and the beard does not sprout as violently as Harry’s on his cheeks, which still tend to blush in conversation. Like the son of the Windsor family, the Belgian footballer is a world star, “unique in the world, unstoppable in his position,” as his coach Pep Guardiola recently enthused.
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Photo: AFP/HAROLD CUNNINGHAM
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With Manchester City he makes the next attempt at victory in the Champions League in the semifinals against Real Madrid (first leg on Tuesday, 9 p.m.). This is the title that the owners and above all the City Football Group from Abu Dhabi as the majority owner have been keen on for years and for which they are investing millions into the team. Last year, Man City’s dreams were shattered in the final at Chelsea in general and the fearsome physique of German international defender Antonio Rüdiger in particular. De Bruyne suffered a broken eye socket and nose in a violent impact. He had to be substituted after an hour, his team lost 0:1.
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Photo: dpa/Guido Kirchner
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But Man City believe they are strong enough to correct this mishap. De Bruyne plays a key role in this. He has the ability to act with remarkable calm and foresight on the pitch, to vary the tempo, to give structure to the game. He anticipates game situations a few moves ahead, mentally he is always ahead of teammates and opponents, often beats the penultimate but decisive pass, provides assists that can only be used, and he scores himself. An almost perfect player, what not only Guardiola finds. “He’s just like Xavi, Andrea Pirlo and Andres Iniesta were in their best days,” said the coach, “you just have to give him the ball and it’ll be fine.” . De Bruyne scored twice and set up one in City’s 4-1 win. Paul Scholes, part of Sir Alex Ferguson’s great United team and also a redhead, by the way, was deeply shocked: “He’s the best midfielder in the world. Nobody can hold a candle to him there.”
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That’s quite possible. As a result, he was nominated six times for the “Ballon d’Or”, the vote for the best player. He was never at the top. This also has to do with the fact that De Bruyne can do everything on the field, but is a very calm representative off the field. He doesn’t talk much, doesn’t do industry-standard self-promotion, or extensive full-body tattooing – which sets him apart from the competition in two ways.
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At work, however, the man with the tender face, who always looks as if he has just been caught copying by the strict class teacher, becomes a winner. And he’s pretty talkative there too. Other players find out about their mistakes in good time, and if things don’t go fast enough, the nice Mr. De Bruyne can be quite freaked out. A Frankfurt ball boy who seven years ago, when the Belgian kicked with great success for Wolfsburg in the Bundesliga, will certainly testify to this, and did not want to give up the playing equipment quickly enough. “Give me the ball, motherfucker!” De Bruyne yelled, not at all nice. The DFB rewarded the excursion into the English swear word non-culture with a fine of 20,000 euros.
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Photo: dpa/Rui Vieira
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However, no other derailments are known. Kevin De Bruyne prefers to pursue profitable strategies on the pitch and in one of his few in-depth interviews with Socrates magazine he confessed: “I want to have fun on the pitch. No matter what happens, I have the gift of putting everything into perspective.” That’s why the excitement that so obviously creeps up on him when he’s not on stage just falls away when he’s playing.
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But that doesn’t mean there’s a lack of ambition. “If it’s possible, I’d like to win everything at the same time,” he said, “to go down in history.” He allows himself such big words from time to time.
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He has already gone down in history, for example as a third-place finisher at the World Cup with permanent secret favorites Belgium, as a three-time English champion with ManCity or as a DFB Cup winner with VfL Wolfsburg. But above all as a “player with a great vision”, as his national coach Roberto Martínez explained. Of course, the crown of the Champions League would suit such a great talent. Maybe it will be something in the voting for the “Ballon d’Or”. Completely without self-portrayal in the global network, without tattoos, without bling.
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