The Players, available to watch now on UEFA.TV, looks at what makes De Bruyne and PSG forward Kylian Mbappe two of Europe’s premium footballers.
With interviews and footage captured towards the end of last season’s Champions League campaign, the film delves into De Bruyne’s passing technique and dissects the minutiae of his game.
“Not everything is about power – it’s about the way you strike the ball,” he says. “The cleanness I try to get into it makes it me able to get it whether I need to get it on the pitch. And whether that’s short or long, I think I can do both now.
“People know what I can do with the ball passing-wise and creativity-wise. But in my mind, even if I have a bad game, I will still be one of the guys who runs the most, still presses the other team – and that sets an example to everyone else.”
Phil Williams, Head of Editorial Content Services for UEFA, says the film attempts to uncover what makes De Bruyne special.
“We wanted it to be multi-faceted – what players do during a game, how they think, how they feel, the influences that have made them the players they are,” he says.
“De Bruyne has lots of facets to his game, so we wanted to uncover how he uses them during matches.
“What we tried to make is a documentary that fans and players will relate to. Even players who play Sunday league football can relate to it, to an extent.”
