It may be selfish, but Manchester City fans can be delighted to see their two key midfielders, Kevin De Bruyne and Ilkay Gundogan, crash out of the World Cup earlier than predicted. De Brunye’s Belgium and Gundogan’s Germany were sent packing in the space of a few hours on Thursday night, giving Manchester City supporters hope that the dynamic duo will be fully rested in time for the English campaign’s resumption.City head coach Pep Guardiola was counting on Belgium and Germany progressing to the latter stages in Qatar – but in reality, they will be preparing for a Carabao Cup game in the days the world will watch the World Cup reach its climax. Such is life.Gundogan and De Bruyne coming home pic.twitter.com/6HSYoJVyEq— HEEL KAYBEE (@heel_kaybee) December 1, 2022 Manchester City’s next fixture is the Carabao Cup home tie with Liverpool on 22 December – just two days after the World Cup final.It felt inevitable that Belgium wouldn’t be winning the World Cup as soon as their talisman openly said they wouldn’t because the team was too old. Kevin De Bruyne’s looked a broken man following his team’s 0-0 draw with Croatia. It will take him some time before he gathers his energy back.##NAJAVA_MECA_6864271##Gundogan’s country may not have been among the favourites to win the World Cup, but had they qualified in second place, they would have faced Morocco and been favourites to progress to the quarter-finals, spending at least another week in Qatar. Now, Gundogan joins De Bruyne in having a three-week break before turning his attention to facing Liverpool in the League Cup.Having two players of such importance face a quality side will strengthen City’s options significantly and reduce the need to rush anyone back who is spending longer in Qatar. City already have Erling Haaland, Riyad Mahrez, Sergio Gomez, Stefan Ortega and Cole Palmer to build a team around for Liverpool, so when De Bruyne and Gundogan are added to that completes the majority of a competitive forward line.Last year, Pep said that he would leave City at the end of this season – but he’s made a U-turnThere are still players not expected to return to the Etihad soon, however. Portugal internationals Ruben Dias, Bernardo Silva and Joao Cancelo, England’s Phil Foden, Kyle Walker, Jack Grealish, John Stones, as well as Spaniards Rodri and Aymeric Laporte will stay in the Middle East a little longer. The same goes for Argentine Julian Alvarez and Dutchman Nathan Ake.
