Domenico Tedesco said Sunday he is convinced that Kevin De Bruyne is ready for Belgium’s Euro 2024 opener with Slovakia after an injury-hit club season for his star player.
A troublesome hamstring cost De Bruyne the first half of the most recent club campaign but the Manchester City playmaker has looked good since returning to action.
De Bruyne missed all but one of Belgium’s qualifiers but the 32-year-old played in both of the Red Devils’ warm-up wins over Montenegro and Luxembourg, his first appearances for his country since March last year.
“I’m sure that he’s ready,” Tedesco told reporters ahead of Monday’s Group E clash.
“It’s true that the season was not that easy for him first of all but also for us as a national team. You can imagine that for a national coach not having Kevin De Bruyne with us for one year was not so easy.
“The only thing I can do is give you my opinion about him: he had a small break after the FA Cup final against Man United and then he came to us. We tried to increase the load from day to day so we didn’t start with the whole team at 100 percent.
“The first two days we really slowed down and then we increased the loads and he reacted fantastically, so I have absolutely no doubts.”
Belgium come into the tournament with plenty of fresh faces after a “golden generation” of players failed to live up to expectations at previous major tournaments.
Big players likes Eden Hazard and coach Roberto Martinez stepped aside in the aftermath of a disastrous group stage exit at the last World Cup in Qatar, and a revamped team still look heavy favourites to top Group E which also contains Ukraine and Romania.
“Qatar is over now, we can’t change things. It was disappointing yes, but it was two years ago, 18 months ago,” said De Bruyne.
“This is a new tournament and a new coach. The team has changed a lot as well so we’re all here to enjoy a good start to the competition.
“You have to start in a positive flow and I feel the team is ready and has a lot of energy… That’s the only thing we can look at.
“I’m feeling good, I’ve had fun. I’m also a bit older. I just want to play well and not make mistakes.”
