Why is Kevin De Bruyne benched for Real Madrid vs Manchester City clash?

After a tough draw against Arsenal, Manchester City bounced back with back-to-back wins over Aston Villa and Crystal Palace although both games were far from convincing. Instead while the Cityzens did end up scoring 4 goals in both games, they took their own cool time to get into gear. It has fans and critics alike worried ahead of their clash against Real Madrid.

The Cityzens face the Los Blancos for the third consecutive season in the Champions League but will do so without key stars like Nathan Ake and Kyle Walker because of various injury issues. However, with Kevin De Bruyne, Erling Haaland, Phil Foden and co fit again, few were worried. But that has changed as reports indicated that the Belgian forward wasn’t going to start at the Santiago Bernabeu.

Pep Guardiola benches Kevin De Bruyne for Real Madrid vs Manchester City clash

That was confirmed via the line-up with De Bruyne on the bench Mateo Kovacic, Jack Grealish and Bernardo Silva all start in midfield alongside Rodri, Phil Foden and Erling Haaland. Reports have indicated that midfielder maestro was benched because of an illness. That has been reported by several news outlets including the Athletic, who have confirmed that De Bruyne has been feeling unwell.

Many believed that De Bruyne was benched because of Pep Guardiola’s tactical change but instead that has since been refuted by reports indicating that the Belgian is unwell. The midfielder had only just returned from an injury that kept him out of action for a few months and his absence had been felt within City’s rank. Yet despite that, the club continued to knock out results with them still in the title race.

The midfielder is on the bench alongside Jeremy Doku, Rico Lewis, Julian Alvarez, Matheus Nunez and co. Real Madrid, on the other hand, have no injury issues as the hosts have named their strongest side without David Alaba and Thibaut Courtois who are long-term injury absentees.

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