Kevin De Bruyne focused on present amid 'fully loaded' Man City season
Saturday 9 April 2016 11:46, UK
Kevin De Bruyne is happy with his goalscoring return to fitness ahead of an exciting finish to a "fully loaded" season for club and country.
The City attacker continued his comeback from a two-month injury lay-off against PSG on Wednesday, leaving manager Manuel Pellegrini to describe him as a "difference-maker" after his second goal in as many games.
Despite the injury, the Belgium international has thrived in his first season since joining from Wolfsburg last summer, scoring 14 and setting up nine more in 33 appearances for the club.
He has had a busy 12 months, including a move from Germany to England and the birth of his first child, and is set for a hectic few weeks with Euro 2016 on the horizon and the imminent arrival of new manager Pep Guardiola at City.
But after his enforced injury absence, De Bruyne insists he's not thinking too far ahead.
"I'm just happy to be back playing again, and in a couple of weeks the Euros will be here so it's event after event," De Bruyne told Sky Sports News HQ.
"These days you cannot think about what's going to happen in four or five months because a lot of things can change. It's the same in a World Cup year, and now the Euros are coming. The season is fully loaded.
"You couldn't predict my injury, but it happened and I worked hard to come back as good as possible. I am happy to be back a little bit quicker than expected, and I'm pleased with how things have gone the last two games.
"Physically I'm a strong player - it's been one of my strengths - so I'm happy with the way I've come back. I didn't expect to be able to do 75 minutes against PSG, and obviously the day after there was a bit more stiffness.
"I need more games because playing football is the only thing you can do to increase your fitness level."
De Bruyne enjoyed a spectacular campaign in his one full season with Wolfsburg, scoring 10 and assisting 20 as they finished runners-up to Bayern Munich in the Bundesliga.
Wolfsburg boss Dieter Hecking largely built his team around the Belgian, and De Bruyne admits it's been an adjustment playing alongside "superstars" at City.
"My confidence was high after an incredible year last year, but I'm almost doing the same as I did then," he continued. "The difference now is I play more positions.
"It's more difficult doing that because last year I played 90 per cent in one position and the team was more around me. More people looked at me over there [in Germany] than maybe they do here [in England].
"My team in Wolfsburg was not as good as my team here because we have a few superstars that Wolfsburg didn't have.
"There it was 'get the ball to Kevin and we'll see what happens,' and here I can go out of the game for 10 minutes and come back into it. That was never possible in Wolfsburg.
"But I felt really good at Man City from the beginning. You need to adapt to the team and to the life at home, but I think everything's gone very well from then until now - apart from the injury. I think you can see that on the pitch.
City, who hold a one-point lead over fifth-place Man Utd in the Premier League, face West Brom at the Etihad on Saturday Night Football, and De Bruyne sees it as an opportunity to put the onus back on their rivals for a top-four place.
"It's a tricky weekend and if we win we can put pressure on a lot of teams because there a huge games coming up," he continued.
"Our schedule is not that easy also, so the most important thing is to get the three points to stay in fourth and put pressure on the others."