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Manchester Evening News
Manchester Evening News
Sport
Simon Bajkowski

Man City midfielder Kevin De Bruyne raises injury concern with Belgium

Kevin De Bruyne says the current fixture schedule "hasn't really been planned out properly" as Belgium prepare for two games in four days.

The Manchester City playmaker was last in action on May 18 as he came off the bench to put in a star turn for the 6-0 FA Cup final victory at Wembley. But he could be called upon by national team boss Roberto Martinez for games against Kazakhstan on Saturday and Scotland on Tuesday.

De Bruyne , who missed large chunks of the season with City after suffering an unfortunate injury at the beginning of the campaign and then never really being able to recover enough to play three times a week, would rather not have had such a start to his summer.

“It’s not ideal to have three weeks off and then play two matches in a matter of days,” he said ahead of the game.

“This hasn’t really been planned out properly although we players have no say in the matter. We have to be careful that no one gets injured and goes to their holiday, or to their pre-season preparations next month, with problems.”

The Belgian also defended John Stones after his errors contributed to England's 3-1 defeat to the Netherlands in the UEFA Nations League.

"I think it's very difficult for people to understand but for me I think he played a good game except for the mistake he made," he said.

"When you play in a team like we do at City where we are used to playing out from the back and giving each other options, and then go to another team where you try to do the same but you don't get the options that you get in your normal team it is very difficult to play differently."

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