A hamstring damage picked up within the Champions League closing in June saved De Bruyne out of City’s pre-season preparations, with the Belgian solely returning to characteristic off the bench towards Arsenal within the Community Shield per week in the past.
Despite that, De Bruyne began and captained City towards Burnley at Turf Moor, as Guardiola’s facet made a robust begin to their title defence with a comfortable 3-0 win.
Erling Haaland scored a brace and Rodri added a 3rd, however De Bruyne managed simply 23 minutes earlier than he stopped off the ball and signalled to the bench that he wanted to return off, with Mateo Kovacic launched to switch him.
Guardiola confirmed after the match the Belgian is dealing with a prolonged spell on the sidelines, with the problem the identical one which has hampered him over the summer time.
“He is injured again unfortunately,” the City boss informed Match of the Day.
“Same place and position as the Champions League and he will be out for a while.”
Ruben Dias and John Stones each missed out on the journey to Burnley, with Nathan Ake and Manuel Akanji beginning at centre-back and Josko Gvardiol making his debut off the bench.
Guardiola revealed that Stones had picked up an abductor damage whereas Dias was recovering from concussion.
“Ruben has a tough concussion and the protocol of the Premier League says you need seven days off and that’s why he’s not here today,” Guardiola defined.
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