Two European icons say goodbye, a record Premier League relegation and backpass mayhem

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Hello! Kevin De Bruyne’s dreamy decade at Manchester City is ending. Could he have found a way past this defensive unit?

It’s the end of the line for two icons

I once watched Kevin De Bruyne orchestrate a 7-0 demolition of Leeds United. He pinged the fourth of Manchester City’s goals into the roof of the net from 25 yards that day because, well, nobody was bothering to mark him and what else was there for a guy to do?

For some footballers, those on the roof of the world, the game is an exact science — two plus two equals top bins — and the Premier League has been spoiled by De Bruyne’s genius. But at his instigation, he’ll check out of City when his contract ends in June. After a decade, six domestic titles, a European Cup and numerous other honours, the most perfect of marriages is over.

De Bruyne, 33, is a Hall of Famer all day long, a midfielder with vision and a passing range to die for. There are scores of moments you could use to define him (he’s had a hand in 187 Premier League goals, all told) but as highlight number one, I’d go with his no-look ball to Leroy Sane against Stoke City in 2017, above — the definition of seeing a pass which nobody else could.

He wasn’t the only icon to confront the dying light of his career over the weekend, though. No sooner had De Bruyne announced his impending exit from City than Thomas Muller, the decorated Germany international, revealed that he and Bayern Munich would also part company in the summer. That ends a 17-year, trophy-laden partnership – and a period in which Muller was ubiquitous in the Bundesliga.

De Bruyne turns 34 in June and Muller will be 36 in September. Time is catching up on them both but neither man is finished. So what’s in store for two giants of the European game?

MLS calling?

Muller is a different animal to De Bruyne, and not just in a positional sense. He’s a more awkward, less conventional attacker who bent the boundaries and transcended perceived limits in his skill set. This goal against Freiburg in 2018 cutely sums up a free spirit:

(Football on TNT)

There’s a contrast in the nature of their departures, too. De Bruyne leaving City feels like his choice, a decision on his terms. “We all know the day comes eventually,” he wrote in a social media post. “You deserve to hear it from me first.”

Muller, in contrast, wanted another season at Bayern. He had hoped to agree a contract extension, but one wasn’t forthcoming. The club’s hierarchy preferred to remove Muller’s £14.5million per year salary ($18.6m) from the books. “It’s important the club follows its convictions,” he said magnanimously.

The obvious assumption is that the United States might be calling them both. Bayern have a partnership with LAFC and while nothing is agreed, a move involving Muller has been discussed. The Athletic’s Seb Stafford-Bloor thinks a switch to MLS makes sense. De Bruyne, too, has been the subject of past conversations involving San Diego FC. Saudi Arabia seems to appeal to him less — and it’s safe to assume that having been so synonymous with City, the idea of kitting up for a rival Premier League club might not be attractive either.

Somewhere out there, fresh challenges await. Those challenges simply won’t be at the peak of the sport because while De Bruyne and Muller are generational icons, generations end. As De Bruyne himself wrote: “That day has come.”

News round-up

An Old Trafford snoozefest

Sunday’s Manchester derby. Less fire and brimstone than dire and grimstone. As Michael Cox writes this morning, the losers in a 0-0 draw at Old Trafford were those who tuned in to watch.

It served a purpose, though, in underlining why City cannot cling to a faded version of De Bruyne much longer. That era is done and so is the team Pep Guardiola built about him. Guardiola has been facing up to an essential refit for a while and his take on City’s season back in December — “We have to survive” — is proving incredibly prescient.

As for Manchester United, City’s level of torment is still pretty enviable. Guardiola could escape out the other end of 2024-25 with a trophy and Champions League qualification. United remain in the realms of trying to work out if they can eke a few more drops from a long-since-past-his-best Casemiro. The midfielder kept City in check yesterday but head coach Ruben Amorim saying he is “our player and continues to be our player” is faint praise sent to damn.

A couple of other lines from weekend 31 in the Premier League:

How Olsson came back from a brain injury

(Daniel Stentz)

Midtjylland are a modern success story in Denmark: champions for the first time in 2015, and title winners a further three times since. Midfielder Kristoffer Olsson was part of the power behind their boom.

But 14 months ago, the 29-year-old — an ex-Arsenal trainee — was found unconscious at his home. An illness causing blood clots on his brain nearly killed him. The Sweden international defied expectations by not only surviving but walking again, returning to training and shaping up to resume his career.

That won’t happen at Midtjylland because he and the club have agreed to go their separate ways, to allow Olsson to live closer to his family in a different part of Denmark. They said goodbye to him on Saturday, and The Athletic’s Jordan Campbell was there to capture an emotional farewell. “When something ends, something new starts,” Olsson told him. He’s living proof of that.

Around The Athletic FC

Quiz answer

The pairs of players who made most club appearances together, from highest to lowest, were: Steven Gerrard and Jamie Carragher (Liverpool, 383); Lionel Messi and Sergio Busquets (Barcelona, 381); Paul Scholes and Ryan Giggs (Manchester United, 358); John Terry and Frank Lampard (Chelsea, 352); and Thomas Muller and Manuel Neuer (Bayern Munich, 338).

Catch a match

(Selected games; times ET/UK

Premier League: Leicester City vs Newcastle United, 3pm/8pm – USA Network, Fubo/Sky Sports.

Serie A: Bologna vs Napoli, 2.45pm/7.45pm – CBS, Paramount+, Amazon Prime/OneFootball.

La Liga: Leganes vs Osasuna, 3pm/8pm – ESPN+/Premier Sports.

And finally…

The backpass rule — preventing goalkeepers from handling deliberate passes from their own team-mates — has been a staple of football for over 30 years. It’s so ingrained that teams rarely break it.

But Ipswich Town did on Saturday, after goalkeeper Alex Palmer misjudged a Dara O’Shea ball towards him and gave himself no option but to desperately claw it off his line (above). What ensued was textbook chaos, wonderfully captured by Steve Madeley.

As per the laws, Wolverhampton Wanderers were given an indirect free kick a few yards from goal (meaning they had to pass the ball before they could shoot). Ipswich’s only feasible defensive measure was to line all 11 of their players underneath the crossbar, as shown at the top of TAFC today.

In the scramble that followed, the blue wall held out — but from 1-0 up, Ipswich lost 2-1 anyway. The sooner their season ends, the better.

(Top photos: Getty Images)

This news was originally published on this post .

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