Kevin De Bruyne has no really bad memories of his nightmare Champions League final — in fact, he barely has any memory of it whatsoever.
The Manchester City midfielder was led from the field in the second half after a nasty, unpunished challenge from Chelsea defender Antonio Rudiger, which fractured his eye socket and led to him spending a night in hospital with concussion.
That was the start of a bad summer for the Blues ace, as he was also kicked out of the Euro 2020 finals, leaving him with a snapped ankle ligament that saw him miss the start of City's season as well.
Losing in Porto was a shocker for the whole club but for De Bruyne it was a serious double whammy, even if he can remember little of it.
"I don't remember after the incident so there's not a lot of memories," he said. "We always try to maintain a high level, we always want to compete for titles, we did well last season, two semis and a final.
"These games you can lose, the opposition are very good, that night we lost and move on.
"I remember some chances in the first half, after the collision I don't remember a lot, how I got into the hospital, I remember going back in the morning to the hotel at 10am still with my kit on.
"In sport it happens. It's not the best thing to happen but you go on with it. get back as best as possible. It took some time, it was a bit painful but I feel much better now and I'm very happy about that."
When he returned to the team hotel, he was sought out by chairman Khaldoon Al Mubarak, who had spoken to the rest of the squad that morning but had a private chat with De Bruyne when he returned from the hospital.
"He said he was happy with how I contributed to the team and the year," recalled De Bruyne. "He said he'd be back again to fight for the trophy.
"We weren't in a good mood, I felt strange at the time. It was nice to hear that from the chairman because it was a big blow. It was a positive but short conversation.
"In the Euros I was happy I could come back but the ankle injury happened. There's nothing I can do, I got tackles and my ligament snapped."
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