One of the most remarkable things about Kevin De Bruyne’s extensive highlights reel is that lots of his most stunning goals and assists have been made with his supposedly weaker left foot.
He is one of only seven players to have scored a Premier League hat-trick with his weaker foot, and even that is only half (or three-quarters) of the story, as he actually scored four that night against Wolverhampton Wanderers in 2022. The first three came inside 24 minutes.
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Not only has De Bruyne contributed so much quality via his left foot, but many of the goals and assists have come at vital moments in City’s hunt for trophies.
So as part of the wave of nostalgia prompted by the announcement that De Bruyne will depart City at the end of the season, The Athletic counts down the Belgian’s top 10 left-footed contributions.
10. Goal — Crystal Palace (A), April 2024
This one actually looks like what you would expect a weaker foot finish to look like, albeit a very good one. This was his 100th goal for City, and the build-up also featured an aesthetically trademark through ball to Jack Grealish on the left.
There is also a good, if slightly delayed, appreciation of arriving into the box at the right time. Of all De Bruyne’s best assets, that is not necessarily one of them — Ilkay Gundogan would be more of an ‘arriver’ onto a pull-back, whereas De Bruyne brings the ball to the edge of the box himself.
(Eddie Keogh/Getty Images)
This time, after a couple of seconds spent admiring that through ball, it seems to dawn on De Bruyne that he had better go and get involved again and he finishes the move off with something of a swinger compared to the other efforts in this list that, nonetheless, sent the ball flying into the net. A special mention for Rodri’s little wall pass, too.
This only happened last year, but it feels like a very, very long time ago.
9. Goal — Arsenal (A), February 2023
This goal might look a little ‘easier’ than the others because he is pouncing on a mistake and it only required one touch, but this was another De Bruyne dagger against Arsenal that was incredibly important, and no less difficult a finish.
This was a big game in the title race in 2022-23; following Queen Elizabeth II’s death in September, this game was rearranged several months later and with Arsenal top of the table. City still looked a little unsure of themselves — and did afterwards, too, drawing at Nottingham Forest a few days later — but they picked up a big victory at the Emirates.
It was kickstarted by De Bruyne, whose running was rewarded when Takehiro Tomiyasu left a backpass short. With the ball bouncing up and Aaron Ramsdale in no man’s land, De Bruyne lifted it over him delicately and devastatingly, with a nice bit of curve on it too.
8. Goal — Arsenal (A), December 2019
This came in one of the most deadly first-half performances of recent years. Having already rifled one into the roof of the net and put one on a plate for Raheem Sterling, De Bruyne took the ball from Phil Foden, let it run past him, took just one touch to set himself and then placed one into the bottom corner, with just as much pace as there was accuracy.
He also thundered another shot against the post before half-time, cruelly denying him, and us, of what would have been a staggering first-half hat-trick (plus a ghost assist).
7. Assist — Arsenal (A), December 2019
It was a ghost assist because the Premier League did not credit De Bruyne with it, something which has bothered him for years. He burst into the box on the left-hand side and put across a wicked cross with his left that was converted by Sterling, but it had taken the smallest of touches off Calum Chambers, barely altering the path of the ball but enough for the decision makers to void the assist.
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When he reached 100 assists in the competition in April 2023, the Premier League put up a congratulatory video and featured that one at the very start, something De Bruyne remarked upon in an interview not long after.
This came in the season when he matched Thierry Henry’s long-standing seasonal record of 20 assists, but De Bruyne will always argue that he should have had 21.
6. Assist — West Ham United (H), February 2021
This was a bit of a caricature De Bruyne performance: it has often taken him a few games to get back to his sharpest after an injury, and in this one — his first start after a hamstring problem — he was wayward with a lot of his passes, looking extremely rusty.
This was actually during a period when it was being discussed whether City were doing even better without him, with Gundogan and Bernardo Silva pulling the strings nicely in midfield, during City’s false nine days.
And then he launched a quarterback-style angled ball into the box from wide on the right that Ruben Dias thundered in, giving City the lead. That proved to be City’s 20th consecutive victory in a row, having clicked into gear at the back end of 2020 — a run that took them to the title… and then the next three.
5. Assist — Brighton & Hove Albion (H), April 2022
What a tense game this was! With City locked in an incredibly close title battle with Liverpool they went into this game against Brighton needing victory, and with the team having recently discovered habit of scoring early goals, the Etihad crowd were fidgety when one did not arrive.
Fortunately for City they ended up winning comfortably and this goal capped it off. A lot of the best work is done by Oleksandr Zinchenko, who nips in to win the ball back when it is played out wide, but from there De Bruyne takes over with the most nonchalant contribution on this list by far.
With the ball bouncing towards him he glances it on to Bernardo with the merest of flicks, but enough to play it into the Portuguese’s path and away from any defenders. A perfect intervention.
4. Goal — Tottenham Hotspur (H), December 2017
Two minutes before this, Dele Alli stood on De Bruyne’s ankle but only received a yellow card. In the clearest example of ‘the redder he is, the better he plays’, the Belgian got on the ball, stormed into the Spurs box and battered the ball past Hugo Lloris.
Lloris managed to get a strong hand to it but the ball still flew into the roof of the net — this one was rifled.
It was also the day when David Silva had to pull out because his son had been born prematurely, at just 25 weeks. De Bruyne celebrated in the corner and held his fingers up to show a two and a one, in support of Silva, City’s No 21.
(Paul Ellis/AFP via Getty Images)
3. Goal — Chelsea (A), September 2017
This might be one of the most important goals of the Pep Guardiola era. Having looked pretty spritely by the end of the previous season, but well beaten to the title by Chelsea, City went to Stamford Bridge in September 2017 to face Antonio Conte’s champions.
And it was a classic De Bruyne goal that won it: after finding Gabriel Jesus with a first-time pass he burst forward and by the time the ball was bounced back to him he was in full flight. Another touch to settle himself and then bang — he fired the ball back across goal and past Thibaut Courtois.
The City players sang his name in the dressing room after the match and their confidence in their own game seemed to grow and grow. They eventually won the title by amassing 100 points.
2. Goal — Wolves (A), May 2022
This was the third of his three left-footed goals against Wolves during the 2021-22 run-in and the best of the lot. City had been knocked out of the Champions League thanks in large part to two stoppage-time Real Madrid goals just seven days earlier, and there were plenty of nerves among the fanbase ahead of the trip to Molineux.
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De Bruyne, though, gave City the lead after seven minutes with a smart left-footed finish across goal into the bottom corner, and after seeing Wolves equalise he got into the box to make it 2-1 shortly afterwards.
And then, on 24 minutes, he cut inside from the right at full speed and laced one into the bottom corner, with the same sort of power and precision that he scored with at the Bernabeu in 2023 with his favoured right foot.
As well as being his third of four on a very significant night, this was also one of the highest quality goals De Bruyne has scored for City.
1. Goal — Leicester City (A), November 2017
De Bruyne had no real reason to hit this one with his left foot. Having moved inside he could have easily continued onto his right, but going back onto his left was designed to outfox his opponent and was completely of his own volition. Nobody would have expected the shift back to the left foot and, especially at this stage of his City career, few would have expected such a pure strike.
As has become obvious during his career, and certainly this list, his striking ability is every bit as pure with his left foot as it is with his right and this goal, out of all of them, might be the best demonstration of it.
Sure, it may not be as important as the Chelsea or Wolves efforts, and you might argue they deserve the top spot, but this is simply the best goal.
(Header photo: Richard Heathcote/Getty Images)
