Pep Guardiola confirms Kevin De Bruyne setback as Belgian is ‘injured again’ following opening day win at Burnley

Kevin De Bruyne was forced off in Manchester City’s opening Premier League win against Burnley with an injury - his first start since the Champions League final in June.

He came off in the win against Inter Milan with a hamstring injury and seemed to show signs of a reoccurrence at Turf Moor when he hobbled off in the 23rd minute.

De Bruyne featured in the Community Shield against Arsenal on Sunday as a second-half substitute and grabbed the assist for Cole Palmer’s goal, and Man City boss Pep Guardiola said he was “feeling good” before the game.

“Unfortunately, he’s injured again,” Guardiola confirmed to Sky Sports after the game. “It is a problem in the same position I think that he said to me in the Champions League final, he recovered well [from that] and now we lost him for some time.

“We have to reflect, talk to the doctors and see what has happened with him. He has to relax, recover and come back because he was feeling good and he was playing really good in the first minutes, so, unfortunately, he’s injured again.”

De Bruyne admitted he was surprised to be included in the starting 11 that was without John Stones, who suffered an unspecified injury in training, and Ruben Dias, who was missing with a concussion.

“Maybe [shouldn’t have taken a chance to start him],” Guardiola said. “But what happens in 15 minutes can be an injury in 60, 65, 70 when the fatigue comes in the legs, but we have an injury in 15 minutes.”

Despite losing De Bruyne early on, City continued their rampant Premier League form to beat Burnley 3-0 in the league curtain raiser.

Guardiola’s side were already one goal up when the Belgian exited, thanks to Erling Haaland’s fourth-minute opener, and a second goal from the Norweiagn doubled their lead before half-time.

Rodri added a third in the latter stages as City secured their first three points of the season.

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