Only one day remains before the highly-anticipated Manchester Derby. Man City will host their bitter rival and neighbor, Man United, on Saturday with the hope of achieving a league double over the Red Devils.
Pride is also on the line, as a victory against Mourinho’s side will see the Citizens officially be crowned as Premier League champion. However, that is not the only interesting factor ahead of their weekend encounter.
A lot of focus will surround Kevin de Bruyne and his run-in with the Special One, the manager who sold him for a mere $25.2m back in 2014. That decision to sell the Belgian midfielder is now considered to be one of Jose’s worst decisions as a manager.
The 26-year-old has now risen to become one of the best midfielders in the world at the Etihad Stadium. His new club is set to win the English top-flight and is in the Champions League quarter-final – albeit they look set to crash out after a 3-0 first-leg defeat to Liverpool.
Ahead of Saturday’s Manchester Derby, De Bruyne opened up about his relationship with the Portuguese tactician. He summed it up in one word: distant.
"I would say distant," De Bruyne told Football Focus, as per Manchester Evening News, when asked about his relationship with Mourinho.
"I’m not really somebody who speaks a lot with coaches if a coach wants to speak with you, you do it. He is the boss, you can be good with each other but still, there’s a distance between a coach and a player."
The Man City star added: "I only spoke with him twice - when I wanted to leave to Dortmund and the second meeting [before the move to Wolfsburg] I said I need to go, I need to play football."
It was under Jose’s reign at Stamford Bridge that De Bruyne was loaned to Wolfsburg and eventually sold. The midfielder will be keen to punish Mourinho’s team when they meet this weekend.
Match details, result and original broadcast info
This match has ended. Below are the original Live broadcast details for this match.
Live TV coverage and streaming in United States
Live TV coverage and streaming in United States
Follow the game on-the-go
Download our iOS and Android apps to follow soccer on-the-go. It comes packed with features - live scores, fixtures, results, tables, line-ups, stats, TV schedule and much more! Sorry, no live streaming within the app.
