Manchester City star Kevin De Bruyne was going through a difficult personal situation as the Blues beat Real Madrid in 2023
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MANCHESTER, ENGLAND - APRIL 17: Kevin De Bruyne of Manchester City confronts Referee Daniele Orsato during the UEFA Champions League quarter-final second leg match between Manchester City and Real Madrid CF at Etihad Stadium on April 17, 2024 in Manchester, England. (Photo by Marc Atkins/Getty Images) (Photo by Marc Atkins/Getty Images)
MANCHESTER, ENGLAND - APRIL 17: Kevin De Bruyne of Manchester City confronts Referee Daniele Orsato during the UEFA Champions League quarter-final second leg match between Manchester City and Real Madrid CF at Etihad Stadium on April 17, 2024 in Manchester, England. (Photo by Marc Atkins/Getty Images) (Photo by Marc Atkins/Getty Images)
De Bruyne during the second Real Madrid game
Kevin De Bruyne has opened up on the 'best and worst week of his life' as he battled through personal pain to shine for Manchester City. As everyone watched the Belgian star for one of the best displays ever witnessed in the history of the Champions League, hardly anyone knew what he was going through.
De Bruyne was already in pain in the final months of the 2022/23 season as a result of a hamstring injury that he was playing through with the club. He played on and scored a crucial equaliser at the Bernabeu in City's semi-final against Real Madrid in the Champions League before completing the job at home with a 4-0 thumping that sent shockwaves around the European game.
That doesn't begin to tell the story of De Bruyne's experience though, as around the two games he suffered the death of two relatives in Belgium. His emotional goal celebration at the Bernabeu came after saying goodbye to his wife's grandfather two days before the game, before he died the next day.
Then, with the player back in Belgium between the first and second leg for the funeral, his grandmother died and he drove five hours to be with her. It was then straight back to Manchester for the second leg against Real Madrid where the Blues crushed their opponents.
De Bruyne got through both games but isn't sure how, and looking back it is easy to see how he ended up reacting wildly to something Guardiola said on the pitch at the Etihad. If it felt like a strange thing for him to do, it is because he was battling so much going on in his life at the time.
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"It's probably one of the best weeks and worst weeks of my life that I ever did," he told club media. "I think we played on a Tuesday and and so my wife's grandfather - who's really close to us - was dealing with cancer.
"He was not really good. A lot of the people already said goodbye.
"I was basically the only one who didn't say goodbye so on the Sunday I flew to Belgium to say basically goodbye. He was in really bad pain.
"Then on Monday I had to fly here, train in the morning and then fly to Madrid. On Monday evening, he died.
"It was a really emotional time. Obviously then the next Sunday I had to go to the funeral where at the funeral of my wife's grandfather my grandmother died, so I had to drive five hours to say goodbye to her.
"It was an absolute mess. I just played on pure emotion, no sleep whatever.
"There's that clip where I got angry with Pep in the Madrid game because I was all over the place but I did what I had to do to play football and that's the reaction."
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