De Bruyne eager for Euro glory

Kevin de Bruyne is desperate for Manchester City to reach the Champions League final after firing them into the last four of Europe’s elite club competition for the first time.

De Bruyne scored the only goal of the game as City beat French side Paris St Germain 1-0 at the Etihad on Tuesday for a 3-2 aggregate quarter-final win

“I think it is huge. Everybody has talked about the Champions League and to be in the semi-finals is a great achievement,” said de Bruyne, who settled the last-eight tie decisively in City’s favour with a curling shot 14 minutes from time on Tuesday.

“But it is not done yet. We are looking forward to the semis. It is only two games away from the final. We will try to do everything to reach the final.”

City’s win on Tuesday might have been more emphatic had not Sergio Aguero missed a penalty but Belgian star de Bruyne said: “I think it was a very good performance and we deserved to go through. I think the whole team played a good game.

“It feels very good. It was a very important goal and after the 1-0 I think we controlled the game and thought we could score one more.

“We put a lot of pressure on PSG and even after the missed penalty we played well. PSG didn’t create a lot of chances, so well done to the defenders,” explained City’s record £54 million ($77 million, 68 million euros) signing.

Tuesday saw de Bruyne score his third goal in four appearances since returning from a two months out with a a knee injury.

The 24-year-old said: “I just tried to shoot in the corner and it just went in. You just have to try it and one day it will go in.

“I think I play my game at a high intensity. I felt afterwards the power was a little bit gone but I think that is normal with the injury that happened. I give it all until I can’t go further.”

De Bruyne also had praise for the supporters who, following criticism over initially poor ticket sales, provided a sell-out crowd of 53,039 in was a European record attendance for a City home game.

“It is amazing to play in a stadium with so many fans cheering for you,” said de Bruyne. “I think it helps the team in every way.”