Kevin De Bruyne is not a big believer in karma then.
The Manchester City playmaker has rubbished suggestions that Paul Pogba’s three-match ban might just be the universe punishing the Frenchman for comments he made about City’s players last weekend.
Ahead of United’s trip to Arsenal, which saw him sent off for a foul on Hector Bellerin, Pogba admitted that he was hoping City might be hit with some injury concerns ahead of this weekend’s Manchester derby.
“I hope – and it’s bad to say things like this – but fortunately for us I hope they will get some very important players injured like what happened with us,” Pogba said during an interview with Football Focus.
Injuries to John Stones and Benjamin Mendy aside, Pep Guardiola has a full complement of players to choose from on Sunday but the City boss gave Pogba the benefit of the doubt with regards to his classless comments.
“Hopefully no one will have injuries,” Guardiola said after beating West Ham last weekend.
“I would like Paul to [be able to] play against us because I like to face the team with the best players as possible to see if we are able to beat them.
“I am sure it is an expression and he doesn’t want our players to get injured.”
And one of Guardiola’s key players, De Bruyne, has echoed his manager’s sentiments by insisting that he would prefer to play against a full-strength United side at Old Trafford.
However, before he said that, the Belgium international rejected a reporter’s suggestion that karma had come back to bite Pogba on the backside.
“I don’t believe in that shit,” De Bruyne said. “I’m a very straightforward guy. If someone believes it is karma then okay, everyone has their right to their opinion.
“I don’t want anyone to get injured. It’s a competition, you want to play against the best teams and the best players.”
