Goodbye King Kev De Bruyne says farewell at the Etihad Man City 3 1 Bournemouth Matchday Live

Major trophies as a Manchester City player, most decorated player in our history. Yes and rightly so that you know the stands are still full because again he's delighted us with his quality of football and I think this is a special moment for him, his family. I'm amazed that he's kept the tears at bay because I remember when I finished you know there was a tear and I know this must be an emotional moment so he may shed a tear but he knows in love that the fans are assuring towards him. Well listen the light show is about to begin so let me hand you back to Alistair Mann who'll be able to guide you through all we're about to see and hopefully we'll be able to bring you some live feed as well of what you can hear on the pitch. Yeah thank you Kel, the light show has begun. The City players and all the staff are gathered to the side of the tunnel and the crowd around the stadium who have all stayed, they've not gone home, they want to just say a fond farewell to one of the greatest players to have ever worn a City shirt. At the moment you can probably hear on the tannoy different honours that the great man has won. 19 UEFA Champions League 1-1 occasion, Premier League 6, FA Cup 2, League Cup 5, Community Shield 3, UEFA Super Cup and FIFA Club World Cup. A quite extraordinary list of achievements that no player can match. Very emotional. Wanted to congratulate you on all of your achievements in this club so take a look at the big screens. Thank you for the 19 trophies we've lifted for this club, thank you for all the assists, for all the goals. Thank you Ian, congratulations. You've been an absolute fantastic servant to this club and you've also had a reputation. It's the way you play your football as well which is wonderful to watch. So good luck in whatever you do. Hey Daddy. Hi my love, we wanted to tell you how proud we are of you, because we arrived here, the two of us, and now we're here. Leave a good vibe. We're so proud of everything you've done and we can't wait to see what's coming next. Thank you, nice to let you know how much we love you. I own that City, you are so good at assisting and scoring because you kick so hard. I chase it out because I am super proud. Dad, I'm so proud of you. Watching you play and give it all, it makes me feel like a hero. The strongest and most amazing dad in the world. You inspire me every single day. Love you Papa. Just want to say thank you for everything you have done for this club. Thank you for everything you have done for me, for many years. For me it was a pleasure to play alongside you, to learn from you, and to watch you inside the pitch, off the pitch. And most important, to be your teammate and learn from you for many aspects. Just to congratulate you on your career at Man City. I had the chance to coach you and I said it so many times, one of, if not the most clever player ever managed. Well, if I can say managed, I wasn't an assistant. But anyway, one thing is for sure, I would have loved to play with you. You have made history in this club and this league. And it was a pleasure to share some of the world with you. Of course you arrived in Zagreb at the same time, same summer, and you spent a lot of time together. I know how much of a wonderful person you are, top guy. I have so much respect for what you have done for this club. You are an amazing player, but most important, you are an amazing person with a beautiful family. It was an honour to share the pitch with you, and I only wish the best for you and your family. And take care, see you. Congratulations on 10 years at Manchester City, an absolute legend. It's been a pleasure to watch you play, to win all them trophies, and be without doubt the best midfielder in the Premier League. We're going to miss you, but I wish you all the best in the future. You have brought a lot of success into this football club. It's been a joy watching you play. And of course, for me, it's been an honour playing with you during my time at the club. So I wish you and your family all the very best in the next chapter. Good luck, top man. Hey Kevin, you came, you saw, and you conquered. One of the greatest to ever play in the Premier League. It's my absolute honour to share the field with you, my absolute privilege to have you as a friend. Congratulations on everything. Can you try and point to words, what this football club and what this stadium means to you? Manchester is home. Manchester is where these little kids are born. I came here with my wife, Michelle, to stay for a long time. Didn't expect to be here 10 years to do what we have done as a club. Supporters, my teammates, we've won everything. We made the city, the club bigger. And now they're going to take over. Are you proud not only of the legacy that you're leaving behind in terms of trophies, but in the way that you have played the game? I wanted to play with creativity. I wanted to play with passion. I wanted to enjoy football. And I hoped and I think everybody enjoyed it. Everybody has pushed me so hard from inside and outside the club to be the best version of myself. And these guys, everybody we see on the screen and these guys in front of me, they've made me so much better than I was before. And it's been an absolute honour to play with these guys. I've made so many friends for life. And, you know, we all together will be back for sure soon, whenever. Kevin, we've enjoyed it and more. You've made the heartbeat of this team. We thank you endlessly. How do you hope these fans here remember you? No, like I said, with joy. You know, this team tries to entertain people and win. This team works incredibly hard. Everybody behind the scenes and on the pitch. And this team want to win. They will win in the future with me or without me. And I know everybody in the city and the supporters will be behind the team like they've done with me in the last 10 years. And this team will have more success, that's for sure. When you arrived here, we knew you were an unbelievable talent. Now you're leaving as a genuine legend. Did you ever dream of how well it would go? You just want to do well and win. And then when you win, you want to win more and you want to push the city. And, you know, we have had five, six parades. That's been incredible, you know, to witness everything that goes around in the city. And with all the moments with these teammates, there's too many to count. It's been an absolute pleasure. What have the fans meant to you throughout those nearly 10 years, during the lows and during the highs? What have the fans meant? They've been so welcome from the beginning. And then I don't know how to explain it. You know, supporting my family and me says everything. Who can have 50,000 people just waiting for you to say goodbye? You know, it's indescribable. And thank you very much. Kevin, I believe that you've already been told by the chairman, but the club will be building a statue of you outside the Etihad Stadium. How does it feel to have that honour? You know, it means I will always be part of this club. And I've always represented a small piece of that. And, you know, whenever I come back with these guys and with family and friends, I will be able to see myself standing around the stadium. So I will always be here. Now we have some presentations, some gifts that we would like to give you. So we'd like to invite in, because from one king to another, representing the King of the Kippaks, please welcome Colin Bell's wife, Marie Bell, and his son, Professor John Bell. Sent you with some gifts from the club for you to remember us by. It's first of all, a City shirt with your name and number. Also, as you're such a blue, we're of course presenting Kevin with his very own season card for life. It's in one heck of a row. He's next to Zaba, Yaya, David, Ferna, Vinny and Sergio. In recognition of nearly a decade of outstanding contributions to the club, Kevin was presented with a mosaic by our chairman, Khaldun Al Mubarak. The mosaic has been installed at the City Football Academy next to a road that will now bear Kevin's name, the Kevin De Ruyne Crescent. Kennedy has also created a second one for you as a gift. We hope it brings you as much joy as you have given us. A mural painted on Thomas Street in the Northern Quarter and it will be there for all City fans to go and see until the 28th of May. So, Kevin, on behalf of everybody at Manchester City, thank you for everything. Good luck for the rest of your career. Before you go, I'm going to give you the microphone. This is your last opportunity to speak to these fans. I think the best way to describe my life with my wife and my three kids is that we fit in perfectly. I think we understand where the club has come to and what this club means to a lot of people. I think together we've built a big future for you guys, for the club to perform the way this club will perform. I know this has been a bit of a tough year for us, but I think this team deserves all the support from you guys. I know they're pushing really hard and this team will be back next year fighting for all the titles, so they deserve this. I think after 10 years, it was about time that somebody let me talk a bit. It's time to say goodbye. I'll be back, but we love you and see you soon. Leave the team of appreciation. Thank you all for your loyal support of Pep, of this season and always. For those of you travelling to London on Sunday and for those Blues travelling to the Club World Cup, have a safe and successful trip. We will look forward to seeing you all back next season at the home of the Blues. Welcome back to the Matchday Live studio with me, Kel Spellman, Sean Goater and Paul Dickhoff alongside me, two legends of the club. We've just been showing our love and appreciation to a legend that has been here for 10 years. I actually found that quite emotional. We were watching that together. A lot of the City fans around us were quite visibly moved. An amazing send-off, but I think you can really see what this man means to the club and what he's done for us, Paul. And what the club means to him as well. It was emotional. We've had some good send-offs the last few years, but I've never seen anything like that. It just shows you what a man he is. The crowd, the noise they made at the end there was unbelievable. He kept saying there, I might be back, and I thought, don't reel us in, Kev, come on. You can't see that, but I'm sure in a different capacity. But yeah, just an amazing player, amazing guy, amazing send-off. And obviously an amazing family as well, which means so much to him. Absolutely, he's getting his lap of honour here for basically a full Etihad Stadium, which is here in the UK. It's a Tuesday, it's a school night, but sons, daughters with their mum and dad, all to show their love and appreciation to this man who has provided this for Manchester City. I've said it about four times today, but let's remind ourselves, signed as our record transfer in 2015, and in the last 10 years has gone on to make 382 appearances in those games, scoring 102 and assisting 170. He's won 19 major trophies consisting of six Premier Leagues, five League Cups, two FA Cups, three Community Shields, a Champions League, a FIFA Club World Cup and a UEFA Super Cup. Player of the season four times for Manchester City and players' player of the season in the Premier League for two years. Sean, it's going to be hard, I think for any player, in any team, in any club around the world, to match them sort of accolades and trophies. To match that, because you're talking about longevity. It's over the 10 years of the consistency, you know, to do it for players that come and have gone or players that have, you know, two years or three years, and you go, yes, but I mean, 10 seasons of this level, of this quality. It's phenomenal to see how he's been able to produce the levels that he's produced. You know, we're at a world-class stadium celebrating, giving a send-off to a world-class player. And what I loved is, again, it was absolutely packed, again, on a school night. And these fans, once they love you, they love you. And they absolutely adore Kevin because he's given so many great moments. He's given so many great moments. So I think we've honoured him in a great way. And I'm pleased to hear that there is a statue that will be unveiled of him because, again, he's done everything. He's just been absolutely brilliant. Well, he will be forever immortalised outside the Etihad Stadium with a trophy, and rightly so. That man there, our king, 10 years of loyal service, 10 years of memories, 10 years of goals, 10 years of assists, but above all, 10 years of hard work and being the best player, or one of the best players, the Premier League has ever seen. From all of us at Manchester City and for all City fans, Kev, all I have to say is thank you. And we'll wrap up and get final thoughts from Alistair Mann, who's pitch side. To that man there, thank you for everything, Kev. FG, over to you, good night. Well, what a send-off for an absolute Manchester City legend. Our players are currently doing their lap of honour. In particular, that man, Kevin De Bruyne, he's lapping up every moment, and rightly so. 50,000 people still at the stadium on a school night. Yeah, it's fantastic, and what a tribute. You know, and a wonderful speech and messages from players, you know, and from legends of the football club, and yeah, what a send-off, FG. It's, you know, beyond anything that I could imagine. Players are following him here now, waving to everyone. It's just remarkable. Wonderful, wonderful send-off. Yeah, a wonderful send-off indeed. It's all about him, but also there is a group of players behind him who are also doing the lap of honour as well. But, I mean, he's absolutely taking everything he can, and rightly so. Absolutely, you know, and he'll treasure this, you know. Having his family with him, and that reception he's just been given, testament to what he's given to this football club. And well, well, well deserved. I'm quite speechless, really, and what to say? Because I think what we've just witnessed is beyond anything that he probably thought he would get. And what about this, the group of players as well on our side? They've been fantastic through difficult periods this season, and they're following him. I think they're even giving him a round of applause as well. But, of course, the fans are also showing their support to this group of players. Yeah, absolutely, and it's been a difficult season when the standards have been so high. But, you know, tonight was a special night. The result, the weather, the atmosphere, the fans, everything's been... It couldn't have gone any better, you know. Manchester, you think it's going to rain, but it's been a special, special night. And the right send-off as well. Yeah, the correct send-off indeed. I guess from our side, a massive thank you to Man City for allowing us to be here. And, of course, I know everybody watching Manchester 11, I know the guys at the studio will be as emotional as we have been. Thank you to Kevin De Bruyne, Andy, thank you too. One more game to go and Manchester City will secure qualification for the Champions League as long as we get the right result. Absolutely, one game to go, get the job done, rest up. Probably back in two weeks after preparation for the Club World Cup. That's football, that's Manchester City, that's what this club is about. Yeah, the fun doesn't stop.