The disconsolate trudge is becoming a disconcertingly familiar sight. Kevin De Bruyne has limped out of grander games than the curtain raiser to a Premier League. He has made an early exit from bigger occasions this summer. His Champions League final, like his evening in Burnley, came to a premature conclusion. A focus on De Bruyne’s body can concentrate on the remarkable right foot he uses to unlock defences, to pass and cross with an ability most can only envy. It may switch to his increasingly fragile hamstrings. For De Bruyne, Inter Milan may be bracketed alongside Burnley in the memory. His last two starts, two months apart, ended with him hamstrung. “He was injured again, unfortunately. A problem in the same position, he said to me as in the final of the Champions League,” rued Pep Guardiola. “It depends on the magnitude of the injury but it will be a few weeks out.” There will be no De Bruyne against Sevilla in the European Super Cup or against Newcastle in the first major test of Manchester City’s defence of their Premier League title. He could sit out the start of their Champions League campaign. A summer sandwiched by injuries suggests De Bruyne was rushed back. He had said after the Community Shield he was way ahead of schedule; he had targeted the Super Cup for his comeback. “It’s a pity because he had recovered well,” Guardiola said. “Maybe it was my mistake [to pick him] but if he is injured after 15-20 minutes it is not something wrong, when it is 65 or 70 it is the fatigue of the muscle. We have to talk with the doctors and him.” His plan, he had said, was to give the Belgian 50 or 55 minutes, rather than the cameo he had at Wembley. Which, as that culminated in the penalty he slammed against the underside of the bar in the shootout, has completed an ill-fated start to the season. “He is disappointed but he is strong and will be back,” added Guardiola. Yet for how long? De Bruyne may be increasingly injury prone. For a player who has never looked like a natural athlete, a red-faced figure who can seem a throwback to earlier eras, he has shown great durability. He has won 99 caps for Belgium – he would have brought up a century in the summer but for injury – and this was the 587th game of his club career. His 32nd birthday only came in June but to play almost 700 matches by that stage means he has plenty of miles on the clock. Or miles on the hamstring. He revealed after the Champions League final he had played for two months with the risk it could snap. By the time he is fit again, he will have spent the vast majority of six months with a hamstring problem of some description. It has prompted fears it will be a constant for the rest of his career. A reunion with City’s other talismanic Belgian could illustrate it. Vincent Kompany, a colleague for club and country, still made huge contributions in the latter years of his time at the Etihad Stadium but did not make 30 appearances in any of the last four campaigns. He played his final game at 33. De Bruyne should show greater longevity but his appearances will have to be rationed. All of which could create a problem, even in a squad as gifted as City’s. De Bruyne is a unique talent – “what a player he is,” gushed Kompany – and, as his total of 29 assists last season shows, reaches extraordinary levels of creativity. He is Erling Haaland’s supplier-in-chief and the shifting dynamics in the City squad has rendered his qualities perhaps still more significant. The departures of Riyad Mahrez and Ilkay Gundogan have stripped them of two of the likeliest providers of goals and assists amid the band of attacking midfielders and wingers. Mateo Kovacic won’t deliver as many as the German; should Lucas Paqueta arrive, another able technician won’t replicate Mahrez’s contribution in the final third. De Bruyne is irreplaceable in various respects: no one is a like-for-like alternative and, as he ventures further into his thirties, City will have to ponder the question of who his long-term successor is. In the short term, they can console themselves with memories of Phil Foden’s impact when he came on for De Bruyne in the Champions League final and that, when he was sidelined for much of the 2018-19 campaign, they did a domestic treble. But now each injury comes with the sense that it will not be the last, but that De Bruyne is nearer the end. A man who has illuminated many a game may miss more and more. Read More Kevin De Bruyne faces ‘a few weeks out’ after suffering another hamstring injury Pep Guardiola reveals extent of Kevin De Bruyne’s hamstring injury Erling Haaland at the double as Manchester City kick off new campaign in style

A trial is set to begin for two white men in Mississippi who are accused of chasing and shooting at a Black FedEx driver who had dropped off a package at a home

SANTA ROSA, Calif.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Oct 26, 2023--

Gareth Southgate says “performance is the priority” in North Macedonia as already-qualified England look to make up for winning with a whimper against minnows Malta. The Euro 2020 runners-up sealed their place at next summer’s edition with two matches to spare and were below par in Friday’s qualifier. England disappointed a packed Wembley crowd by limping to a 2-0 victory over Malta, leading the manager to suggest his players had subconsciously taken their foot off the gas. Southgate did not castigate those that have done so well for him over the years, but he is demanding a vastly-improved display in North Macedonia as they bring the curtain down on 2023. “Performance is the priority,” Southgate said. “We’ve set a standard. We didn’t reach that standard on Friday. We have to get back to what we’re good at. There’s always a chance within that to have a look at a couple of things that we’d like to see as well. “But the biggest thing is making sure we hit the level of performance that we’ve set ourselves.” England’s final match of the year is also set to be their last on foreign soil until the Euros get under way in Germany. A sold-out Tose Proeski Arena awaits despite the Macedonians’ qualification hopes already having gone up in smoke, with revenge the main focus on Monday. Few saw June’s 7-0 Old Trafford annihilation at Old Trafford coming and Blagoja Milevski’s men are looking to get a famous result having drawn at home to reigning European champions Italy since then. “We weren’t at the level of performance that we want on Friday, so all focus on tomorrow’s game,” said Southgate, whose side have so far gone unbeaten this year. “We play a team who, although they can’t qualify, have tremendous pride and they’ll be wounded by what happened in Manchester. “We have to be ready for a really good atmosphere. Full crowd, full stadium. We’ve had a calendar year where we’ve been very good, so we want to finish well.” England’s final camp of the year has been disrupted by absentees. Five players withdrew from the original squad through injury and two more departed the squad before they flew out to the Balkans. The Football Association announced Kieran Trippier had gone home due to a personal issue, while injury meant Jarrod Bowen left the camp on Sunday. “Unfortunately, Jarrod picked up an injury,” Southgate said. “I think he felt it a little bit yesterday and then again at the end of training today. “We didn’t really have enough time to assess it fully and make a really accurate decision before the game, so we felt better to leave him in England so that he can get it properly assessed. “I don’t think it’s got to be anything serious, but we just didn’t have enough time and we wouldn’t take a risk in that situation.” Bowen was in line for a substantial role for rotated England on Monday, so too Trippier. Performance is the priority. We've set a standard. We didn't reach that standard on Friday. We have to get back to what we're good at Gareth Southgate The versatile Newcastle full-back’s withdrawal underlines the dearth of options at left-back in the absence of injured Luke Shaw and Ben Chilwell. “We need to adapt,” Southgate said. “We’ve got a couple of different options and we’re comfortable with it. We can find a good solution to the issue. “We haven’t got somebody that is playing there regularly, but we’ve adapted to lots of situations over the last few years and we’re comfortable with doing that again tomorrow.” Asked about the options and formation switch, he added: “We probably have done it a little bit on personnel going back a few years. “So, yeah, that is an option. We’ve obviously got players that have played as wing-backs. We can adjust. We’ve got Fik (Fikayo Tomori), of course, who did it the other day, Rico Lewis, Marc Guehi can play across there. “He’s done that for us in a game before so it’s just making sure that everybody’s aware of their job. It changes the way maybe you build up patterns and those sorts of things, but we’re comfortable with the situation we’ve got.” Read More Declan Rice urges England to finish 2023 with a ‘bang’ in North Macedonia Jarrod Bowen adds to England withdrawals after injury in training Manchester City storm back to deny Manchester United in Old Trafford WSL derby Arsenal continue winning streak with convincing victory at Brighton Australia ‘top of the mountain’ after record sixth World Cup win ‘It’s the sweetest one’ – Nicolai Hojgaard hails DP World Tour Championship win

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