The classy Belgian international has been hampered in recent weeks by firstly a toe injury and then a hamstring strain, but he declared himself ready just hours before Thursday’s game against Hamburg, and he threw himself in to a display that saw City fall just short of making an unlikely-looking comeback.
Above all it was the spirit shown on and off the pitch that impressed the 23-year-old, who says, “It’s not just about playing well, we were like a team and were strong. Don’t forget, we were 1-0 down, many teams would have thought it was finished - maybe Hamburg did. But we kept coming back at them, there was a real hunger about us, we wanted to all beat our opponent and that’s what it should be like for every game, and I am definitely going to be one of the players that tries to please our fans like this.
“The fans were incredible, if we can put in the same spirit at every game then we will have the same support from them at every game. It’s already tough to come here, but it’s going to be a fortress and that is what we should aim for.”
The versatile former Hamburg star could only play in the second leg due to a hamstring problem picked up against Arsenal, and reflecting on the tie overall having seen the first game on his old stamping ground at first hand, he added, “We had enough chances to decide the game in our favour and we have been a bit unlucky, but that is all part of football. Looking at both games, maybe we deserved to go through to extra time but both teams were very tired.
“The most important thing is that although we lost, we lost with pride. I don’t like to lose, but if we were to go out I wanted it to be with pride and with some fight. That’s what we did.
“I felt we had a good chance in this competition, we came from a long way back and it has been a long road so it’s a pity that we gave it away so easily in Hamburg. Coming into the home leg, everyone thought they were much stronger than us, but we showed that we are a very good side. Going out in this manner makes me a bit stronger, and hopefully the team as well.”
