London (AFP) – Kevin De Bruyne is hoping to crown David Silva’s glorious 10 years at Manchester City by completing the Spaniard’s set of medals with a Champions League win next month.
Silva has won four Premier League titles among 11 major trophies since joining City in 2010, as well as the World Cup and two European Championships at international level with Spain.
The 34-year-old midfielder has never tasted Champions League glory but he has one last chance with Pep Guardiola’s men, with his contract ending at the end of the season.
City resume their Champions League campaign at home to Real Madrid on August 7, holding a 2-1 lead from the first leg of their last-16 tie, with the winners progressing to the quarter-finals, which will be held on a neutral site in Lisbon.
De Bruyne scored twice in Silva’s final Premier League game as City thrashed Norwich 5-0 on Sunday and labelled his midfield partner one of the best players to ever grace the English game.
“For me he is one of the best players who has ever played in the Premier League,” said the Belgian midfielder.
“You can always debate who is (number) one but when you play with him you can appreciate what he does day-in, day-out. I have played with him for five years — a long time.
“We have won a lot together, we play well together. We complement each other really well in different ways.
“And he’s such a nice guy as well. He is going to be a big miss. It would be great if we could win the Champions League so it could end well for him.”
City have scored four or more goals in six of their 12 games since English football’s restart last month and De Bruyne is hoping to carry that form onto the biggest stage, with the prospect of having to beat Madrid, Juventus, Bayern Munich or Barcelona and then Paris Saint-German to finally win the Champions League.
“It is good to stay in the rhythm. There is no point slacking. We have to keep going full pace,” said De Bruyne.
“Now we have got two weeks to prepare ourselves fully and we have got another final.
“We want to prepare ourselves the best possible to be ready for that game and hopefully we can play another four games this year.”
