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Napoli are anxiously awaiting news of tests on the Kevin De Bruyne injury, as he was spotted using crutches and there are fears it is a similar problem he had at Manchester City in 2023.
The 34-year-old converted a penalty to open the scoring in today’s 3-1 Serie A victory over Scudetto rivals Inter at the Stadio Diego Armando Maradona.
Kevin De Bruyne pulled a muscle in the process of putting Napoli ahead against Inter 🥲 pic.twitter.com/SKnGHnsXHN
— Football on TNT Sports (@footballontnt) October 25, 2025
There was no time to celebrate, as he immediately clutched the back of his right thigh, and seemed to be in tears when consoled by teammates.
Unable to put his right foot down even with arms around two Napoli medical staff, De Bruyne was eventually put on the motorised stretcher to get him back to the locker room.
He came back out for the second half using crutches to take his seat on the bench and watch the final 20 minutes of the match, but it remains to be seen how long he will be out of action for.
The worrying thing is this is an injury in a similar spot to the one that kept him out for four months from August to December 2023 at Manchester City.
Initial reports are that it might not be quite as serious as that, but that with the memory of that setback, De Bruyne was anxiously trying to avoid making the situation worse.
Napoli have been beset by injury problems this season, as Romelu Lukaku was ruled out for four months by a tear in the back of his thigh.
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