De Bruyne struggled to make an impression on former Chelsea boss Jose Mourinho and claimed the pair only spoke twice during his time at the club.
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Liverpool reached the semifinals with the most dramatic of comebacks against Borussia Dortmund and Jurgen Klopp’s side will be desperate to win the trophy now.
As the Blues dream of becoming the first team since Chelsea in 2012 to win Europe’s premier competition, one City player wants the whole nation behind their only representative still standing. When Manchester City go to Stamford Bridge tomorrow on a high as newly-qualified Champions League semi-finalists, opponents Chelsea may well be thinking ‘what might have been?’.
The Swedish striker has played in various leagues across Europe having played for Ajax, the two Milan clubs and Barcelona.
Saturday will also see Manchester City look to continue their quest for a top-four place against fallen champions Chelsea. At the start of the season, both teams were expected to be vying for the Premier League title; however it couldn’t have turned out any differently. Maybe three years ago Kevin wasn’t the same player as he is now.
Defender Gael Clichy said: “I’m not the kind of person who likes to say this player has been missed or this player should have been fit, but the stats talk for him and it’s hard to pretend that we couldn’t have had a better season if he was fit”.
At the other end of the table, Norwich will relegate basement club Aston Villa before the Birmingham side face Manchester United on Saturday if they avoid defeat in the early kick-off match against fellow strugglers Sunderland. In that eventuality, if Arsenal finish 3rd, Arsenal would play a Champions League play-off, rather than go directly into the group stage.
On paper, Chelsea has very little to play for this season. If Manchester United win the FA Cup and finish top six, then seventh in the league earns a place in the third qualifying round. Fourth in the Premier League would still be in the final qualifying round.
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“A lot of the lads probably didn’t realise how close we were to it and it’s just another step closer to our ultimate dream”.
