CorSport: Napoli v City, spotlight on “King Kevin De Bruyne” | OneFootball

Napoli, De Bruyne Returns to Manchester: It Will Be His Night

"King Kev is back". Martin, an Uber driver and incredibly a Liverpool fan in the city of the two Manchesters – with significant family problems he doesn't hide –, says it with a grimace full of respect and sighs born of Napoli and Champions. He is one of the Reds, a rival of City and United, but Kevin De Bruyne goes beyond and is still capable of uniting the chalices. Football. The king, the king of the Citizens: legend and myth, ten years suspended between dreams and a dream reality, timeless and ageless superstar, the touch of the artist. The keys to the kingdom are still his, Etihad is ready to bow: it will happen today, around 9 pm, and however it goes it will be a show. There will be emotions, perhaps some tears, and everything will go as it should: standing ovation, a blockbuster. The Champion who returns to Champions, for the first time as an opponent in his career after hundreds with scepter and crown. And more than a twist of fate, it seems the tribute due to the man: they wrote this story, the gods of football.

And so, well, since yesterday the sovereign is back in town and will stop for a few hours. De Bruyne is not just a host: after 422 matches in all competitions seasoned with 108 goals and 177 assists, KDB is a piece of City's history that will never end. And millions of jerseys in the showcase and the old house in Wilmslow, the family and the children at the park. Around here he has painted football from 2015 to 2025 conquering everything and more, a mountain of glory 19 titles high with 6 Premiers, a Champions and the old World Club Cup – which today he will climb with the memory wearing once again the crown of King Kev with the magic of Napoli. The Citizens, we said, call him that. Like the subjects of a kingdom carved into the legend of a thousand extraordinary plays: among many, no one in Europe has provided as many assists as him in the decade of grace in Manchester (170). In front of Etihad Stadium, the club will erect a statue in his honor, and inside the City Football Academy Manchester-Etihad Campus, not a simple sports center but a small city, one of the avenues leading to the fields already bears his name. "Kevin De Bruyne Crescent", the inscription at the bottom of a mosaic that portrays him with wide arms. An investiture and an honor that belong to the men who made the City: David Silva, Kompany, Fernandinho, Kevin. And it doesn't end there: at 96 High Street they dedicated a mural to him. Which may not have the same effect as Diego's in the Quartieri, yes, but Manchester is at the feet of this Belgian pipe.

For Napoli, it will be a novel-match. It will be the joy of the Champions rediscovered after 555 days and the honor of accompanying De Bruyne in the world that belongs to him forever after 121 days of absence. From the catwalk against Bournemouth that made even Pep cry, up to his stadium, that of the immortal tribune dated May 20. Just a moment ago. It is precisely this that makes the draw incredible. The challenge of fate. With a bit of Napoli also in British. Gigio Donnarumma, of course, another pinch of extraordinary fate in the very chic menu of the first day of the big cup. The championship phase. An absolute novelty for Napoli, not for Kevin: he played the first edition until February, until the playoff with Real, and in total he has lived 72. The last one ever with the City shirt, instead, took place on May 25 in London against Fulham: 116 days today. Yes, the day of the return of the king.

Carlo Gioia

This article was translated into English by Artificial Intelligence. You can read the original version in 🇮🇹 here.