De Bruyne frustrated at not being able to help the team | OneFootball

Kevin De Bruyne says it’s been tough watching from the sidelines with a frustrating injury keeping him out for much longer than expected.

The Manchester City midfielder missed five months of last season after surgery on a hamstring injury before returning to help us win the Premier League title for a record fourth successive season.

He picked up a niggle in our victory over Brentford in September that he didn’t expect to keep him off the pitch for long.

But De Bruyne says he is now feeling a lot better as we return to the Etihad Stadium for our Champions League clash with Feyenoord on Tuesday at 20:00 (UK).

“Last year was last year, I came back and think I did fine,” he said. “I played a lot of games and I lost one game last year - the FA Cup final.

“When I came back I felt really good in the first five games and then had a thing against Brentford that didn’t feel good but ended up being way worse than I wanted it to be.

“There’s not a lot to say but I couldn’t kick a ball, I could do a lot but I couldn’t move freely to do what I needed to do.

“In the international break I moved around to see some people and I’m starting to feel better now. It’s been frustrating but I’m feeling better.”

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Injuries have had a big impact at City this season with many of the first team squad missing matches as well as long-term absentees Rodri and Oscar Bobb.

De Bruyne has been around the first team but says he found it tough to not be able to make his usual big impact on the pitch.

WATCH: Ballon d’Or winner Rodri given a spectacular welcome home

“I can help the team but you can only do so much from the side,” he added.

“It’s frustrating because I know if I was feeling good I could help the team but I wasn't able to do that.

“I was kind of training but there’s only so much I could do and that’s not a nice feeling.

“The lower abandonment was creating pain in my groin so every time I would shoot I would get the pain.

“I was trying to find methods to get better and get my power back but it took a long time to get better.

“It only got better on Friday, I don’t know why. The last few days it’s been better and I’m hoping to get that still going upwards.”

City face the Dutch side on the back of five defeats either side of the international break, including our first Premier League loss in two years at the Etihad.

It’s an unusual situation for the Blues and De Bruyne says the squad is determined to get back to winning ways as soon as possible.

“It’s been a bit chaotic I would say. I’ve seen so many people around the medical area, sports science, [you wonder] who’s playing who is not playing,” the Belgian said.

“There were people who shouldn’t be playing but they did anyway with injuries.

“Before the Spurs game we seemed all right, we had the defeat. Yesterday was quiet but for the rest I didn’t see too much changes.

“Of course, everyone is down about the five losses but we have to take it and move on.”