Kevin de Bruyne’s stunning goal helped Manchester City get a draw from their Champions League first leg against Real Madrid, but does he get the credit he deserves? The Belgium midfielder has been consistently one of the best players in Europe since joining City from Wolfsburg in 2015, scoring 64 goals and making 101 assists in 237 Premier League games. Only Lionel Messi and Thomas Muller have made more assists across Europe’s top five leagues in that time. Journalists have argued that De Bruyne needs a defining moment on this stage to create consensus around him, as City are not a legacy club. He has scored 14 Champions League goals for City, with a club record 11 of them coming in knockout games. French journalist Julien Laurens said that City needed De Bruyne to step up in the second half, and his celebration showed his mental strength to stay in the game until something came to him. De Bruyne has been named Premier League player of the season twice and finished third in the 2022 Ballon d’Or, yet Spanish journalist Guillem Balague said it is difficult to pick him as the best player of Manchester City and the Premier League.
Real Madrid winger Vinicius Jr, who scored the opener in the first leg, has become one of Europe’s best players in the last few seasons. This season alone the 22-year-old Brazilian has scored 23 goals and assisted another 21, with remarkable dribbling ability. Julien Laurens said that if he starts scoring goals like that on top of everything else he does really well then he becomes an even bigger problem for all the teams that will face him. Only Erling Haaland (13 – 12 goals, one assist) has been involved in more Champions League goals than Vinicius this season (12 – seven goals, five assists). Spanish journalist Guillem Balague said that if Vinicius can intervene and be influential in different parts of the pitch it takes him to being the best in the world. When Vinicius first joined Real from Flamengo in 2018, he had bags of skill but his finishing let him down. In his first three seasons he hit a combined 14 goals in all competitions, but he has netted 55 in almost two seasons since. Journalists have praised Real Madrid for taking a chance on Vinicius and developing him into one of the top three players in the world.
Kevin de Bruyne’s incredible goal against Real Madrid has highlighted his brilliance and consistency over the past few years. He has been consistently one of the best players in Europe since joining Manchester City from Wolfsburg in 2015, scoring 64 goals and making 101 assists in 237 Premier League games. Only Lionel Messi and Thomas Muller have made more assists across Europe’s top five leagues in that time. Journalists have argued that De Bruyne needs a defining moment on this stage to create consensus around him, as City are not a legacy club. He has scored 14 Champions League goals for City, with a club record 11 of them coming in knockout games. French journalist Julien Laurens said that City needed De Bruyne to step up in the second half, and his celebration showed his mental strength to stay in the game until something came to him. De Bruyne has been named Premier League player of the season twice and finished third in the 2022 Ballon d’Or, yet Spanish journalist Guillem Balague said it is difficult to pick him as the best player of Manchester City and the Premier League.
Real Madrid winger Vinicius Jr has also been praised for his performances this season, scoring 23 goals and assisting another 21. Julien Laurens said that if he starts scoring goals like that on top of everything else he does really well then he becomes an even bigger problem for all the teams that will face him. Only Erling Haaland (13 – 12 goals, one assist) has been involved in more Champions League goals than Vinicius this season (12 – seven goals, five assists). Spanish journalist Guillem Balague said that if Vinicius can intervene and be influential in different parts of the pitch it takes him to being the best in the world. When Vinicius first joined Real from Flamengo in 2018, he had bags of skill but his finishing let him down. In his first three seasons he hit a combined 14 goals in all competitions, but he has netted 55 in almost two seasons since. Journalists have praised Real Madrid for taking a chance on Vinicius and developing him into one of the top three players in the world.