Pep Guardiola has challenged his Manchester City squad to give midfielder Kevin De Bruyne the perfect farewell by winning the FA Cup.
City take on Crystal Palace in the FA Cup final at Wembley on Saturday afternoon in what will be De Bruyne‘s final shot at adding to his immense trophy haul before he departs on a free transfer at the end of the season.
Already with 19 trophies to his name during his time as a City player, De Bruyne is desperate to bow out on 20 and Guardiola backed his side to deliver one final title to the Belgian maestro.
“Of course Kevin wants to do it for us and the team and of course we want to do it for him but you have to perform, behave and do something,” Guardiola said in the build-up to Saturday‘s final.
“It would be nice. He was not the captain for many, many years but he’s lifted already a lot of trophies. He lifted 19 trophies in 10 years, which is not bad!
“He’s played a lot of important games. One season he was injured all year but the rest he has been a key player for us. If he can lift one more that would be good but he’s lifted a lot.”
De Bruyne‘s final season with City has been a frustrating one which has not yielded as many starts as the 33-year-old would have liked.
Guardiola refused to reveal whether De Bruyne will start Saturday‘s final but insisted he is confident the Belgium international has the quality needed to decide the game whether he starts or comes on as a substitute.
“I play him because I believe he can produce what he has produced so far,” the boss insisted.
“Against Crystal Palace we were 2–0 down and he changed the game with his free-kick. We can not do it just to be nice.
“It’s because I truly believe that we need him and he can help us. I don’t know [if he will start] yet. I have an idea but we will see.”
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This article was originally published on www.si.com as Pep Guardiola Wants FA Cup Triumph as Perfect Kevin De Bruyne Send-Off.
