Kevin De Bruyne booking sees Manchester City ace earn suspension four minutes before he was substituted
City ace faced Feyenoord knowing yellow card would force him out of dead rubber against Shaktar Donetsk as Pep Guardiola admits he has no complains with caution
KEVIN DE BRUYNE will miss Manchester City's dead rubber game with Shaktar Donestk after picking up a booking four minutes before he was substituted.
De Bruyne was a surprise started in Pep Guardiola's side for the Champions League clash with Feyenoord with qualification already assured.
The Belgium star was walking a disciplinary tightrope going into the game knowing a yellow card would lead to an automatic one match ban.
And De Bruyne fell foul of the ref an hour into the 1-0 win at the Etihad for a needless trip on Feyenoord winger Steven Berghuis.
That means the influential midfielder is now ruled out from making the long trip to the Ukraine for the final group match against Shaktar, with nothing at stake for City in the game.
And the irony is manager Guardiola then hauled off his brilliant playmaker just four minutes after his booking.
City boss Guardiola admits he has no complaints with the decision to show the yellow card, which has now led to the automatic ban for the dead rubber game in Donetsk.
Guardiola said: "It was a clear foul. I prefer to make one far away than in the penalty area.
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"He helped us again. He always plays at a high level and did it again."
The boost for City is that, on the back of his suspension, De Bruyne's disciplinary slate is now wiped clean in time for the knock-out stages.
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Losing their key man for a knock-out stage match would have been far more damaging than the trip to Ukraine with nothing at stake.
That match in Donetsk can now be used by Guardiola to rest some of his senior players and give his squad stars a start.
Guardiola was able to use the Feyenoord match to blood to highly-rated youngsters in Phil Foden and Brahim Diaz from the bench.
Foden, 17, and 18-year-old Diaz have been tipped for big futures at City having come through their academy system.
And the pair could get another chance to sample Champions League football by joining the squad flying out to Donetsk in a fortnight.