Kevin De Bruyne makes Manchester City return
Pep Guardiola fooled us all. In his pre-match conference ahead of Manchester City’s Premier League game against Sheffield United on Saturday, the former Barcelona head coach claimed “nothing had changed from the last game”, the victory over Everton, and the current Champions League holders had “the same injuries, plus John Stones.” The England defender would therefore join Erling Haaland, Kevin De Bruyne and Jérémy Doku on the sidelines.
Or so we were led to believe. When the City line-up to face The Blades was revealed an hour before kick-off, most eyes were drawn to the list of substitutes, where De Bruyne’s name stood out like a sore thumb. Although Guardiola had revealed the Belgian was back in training and closing in on his return to action, nobody expected it to come in 2023. The 32-year-old hasn’t played a single second of soccer since the opening weekend of the Premier League season, when he was forced off against Burnley after just 23 minutes on 11 August. The initial prognosis was De Bruyne would be out for “a few weeks”, but his absence due to a hamstring injury has ultimately spanned more than four months.
During that time, the playmaker has sat out a total of 27 matches, including 17 league fixtures, the entire 2023-24 Champions League group stage, the UEFA Super Cup, the Carabao Cup defeat to Newcastle United and the FIFA Club World Cup. City have managed to win two (minor trophies) without him, but De Bruyne’s return will give them a huge boost as they look to become the first team to win four consecutive Premier League titles and just the second, after Real Madrid, to win the current version of the Champions League in successive seasons
TEAM NEWS!
XI | Ederson, Walker (C), Akanji, Ake, Gvardiol, Rodrigo, Kovacic, Bernardo, Foden, Grealish, Alvarez
SUBS | Ortega Moreno, Dias, Phillips, De Bruyne, Gomez, Nunes, Bobb, Lewis, Hamilton#ManCity | @etihad pic.twitter.com/L2F7ciD3do
— Manchester City (@ManCity) December 30, 2023
Source: Supersport
In other news – Mbongeni Ngema’s funeral details announced
Details of the memorial and funeral service for veteran playwright Mbongeni Ngema have been announced. Ngema died in hospital on Wednesday after a car crash involving a truck on the R61 in the Mbizana area in the Eastern Cape.
The Ngema family has announced a memorial service for the playwright and musician will be held on January 3 at the Playhouse, Durban, and the funeral service on January 5. Read more
