Kevin De Bruyne has provided a worrying injury update following Belgium’s Euro 2020 quarter-final defeat to Italy.
Belgium lost 2-1 to Roberto Mancini’s men, battling to the end, and ahead of the game, they welcomed back key midfielder De Bruyne from injury.
The Manchester City star suffered an injury to his ankle during the win over Portugal in the Round of 16 and he was expected to miss the quarter-finals.
But he returned in ‘miracle’ fashion, though City fans will be concerned to hear that De Bruyne had to play through pain to represent his country.
Revealing the details of his injury after the Italy defeat, as cited by Manchester Evening News, he said: “For me personally it has been four or five weird weeks.
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“But I especially want to thank the medical staff. It was a miracle that I played today because there was definitely damage to my ankle. A tear in my ligaments.
“But I felt responsibility to play for my country today. Too bad I couldn’t do more.”
Speaking about the defeat itself, De Bruyne added: “I think we tried everything to win this match. They scored a fantastic goal, but the first one may have been a mistake on our part.
“They had more possession and the ball didn’t go in for us, which is a shame. Getting eliminated is always a disappointment.
“It was a difficult tournament for us, we suffered many injuries. We fought until the end. Italy were better than us in the first half, but in the second we created more chances. We could have got it to 2-2 but we didn’t,’ he continued.
“We lost against a top-notch team. We’ll try to win next time, at the World Cup, but first I have to recover physically. I’ve had too many (injury) problems in the last few years but I’ve always tried to give everything for the team.”
De Bruyne has a fairly lengthy injury history and he missed as many as 13 games across last season with issues.
City fans will be hoping his ankle injury recovers ahead of his return to the club this summer, though he will first get time to recover mentally with time off set to commence now that Belgium are out of Euro 2020.