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Manchester City midfielder Kevin De Bruyne is on the cusp of breaking a Lionel Messi record when the Cityzens host Manchester United in the Premier League on Sunday (March 3).
De Bruyne, 32, missed 28 games across competitions due to a hamstring injury before recently returning to action. However, he didn't take too long to recover his mojo.
The Belgian playmaker was close to his best in his previous outing, setting up four of Erling Haaland's five goals in Manchester City's 6-2 rout of Luton Town at Kenilworth Road in the FA Cup fifth round in midweek.
That took his tally to 202 assists while playing for a top-five league club (Premier League, Serie A, Bundesliga, Ligue 1, La Liga) since the 2013-14 season. Most of those assists (165) have come with City, whom he joined in the summer of 2015.
De Bruyne is now just one short of Messi's tally of assists in Europe's top-5 leagues in the same period. The Argentine (203) amassed most of those assists while at Barcelona.
If Kevin De Bruyne draws level with Messi on Sunday, he will accomplish the feat in 442 games, 16 games fewer than the Argentine.
How have Manchester City's Kevin De Bruyne and Lionel Messi fared against Manchester United?
Lionel Messi is widely regarded as one of the best players in the game's history. The eight-time Ballon d'Or winner is still going strong for club and country, having amassed over 800 goals.
Four of those goals have come against Manchester United - all in the UEFA Champions League and for Barcelona - with two of them coming in finals (2009, 2011). The Inter Miami forward also scored twice against United in the 2018-19 quarterfinal second leg.
Meanwhile, Kevin De Bruyne has notched up three goals and six assists in 17 games across competitions against Manchester United. All but one of those appearances have come with his current club Manchester City, with the other coming with Chelsea.
