No Player Deserved the Champions League Medal at Manchester City more than Kevin De Bruyne

Life can be very unfair and football follows suit. Manchester City have been arguably the best team in Europe for the past several seasons yet the Blues have frequently come up short on the continent. Last season was different.

The wrongs were finally made right as the deserving team was finally crowned European champions. The achievement was long overdue. In the confusion that followed during the celebrations Pep Guardiola found time to have a few choice words with one of the best midfielders in the history of the game, Kevin De Bruyne.

It was a heart to heart talk that seemed more like a father speaking to his son who has been very deserving of an accolade but kept missing the mark. As much as the father was happy to have achieved success, he was even happier for the son.

“We did it. We did it. We did it. Seven years of fighting, we did it. We did it, Kev. Now we have it,” Guardiola said to his assistant captain with tears of joy.

It was a moment between player and manager that was both as significant as it was remarkable. In truth, if there was any Man City player that deserved to win the Champions League, it was Kevin De Bruyne.

The attacking midfielder who joined the club from German Bundesliga side Wolfsburg in 2015 has been nothing short of exceptional since. He has consistently been the number one or number two player in the team for the better part of eight years.

As much as the Blues have been a team that can hardly miss a single player especially under Guardiola's tutelage, Kevin De Bruyne has still been more or less an exception to the rule. The 31-year-old who turns 32 tomorrow has been a powerhouse in the City midfield.

Indispensable for the Belgian midfield, he has been instrumental to City's success in the last several years. Another 10 goals, 32 assists last term speaks to just how much he contributed to the team's success in winning the treble.

Although he may need better luck with injuries in Champions League finals, he will care less about that now having finally got his hands on a trophy that eluded him for so long.

For such a talented player, it seemed a huge injustice to see other less gifted players from several other European teams including Liverpool and Chelsea become Champions League winners when De Bruyne kept chasing shadows.

Thankfully, the story has now changed.

The likes of former teammates Sergio Aguero, Vincent Kompany, David Silva, Fernandinho, Yaya Toure and Joe Hart have also missed the accolade. Just like legends Pele, Diego Maradona, Lothar Matthaus, Dennis Bergkamp, Zlatan Ibrahimovic, Ronaldo Nazario, Francesco Totti, Michael Ballack. Lilian Thuram and Gianluigi Buffon did.

But as far as the current City squad is concerned and even the current players from other top clubs across Europe, no one deserves the Champions League medal more than Kev.

Same applies to Man City as a team.