Kevin De Bruyne has admitted winning the Champions League is an obsession for Manchester City ahead of Saturday's final against Inter Milan in Istanbul.
City were beaten in the final two years ago and lost agonisingly in the semi-finals last season. Conquering Europe has become the final frontier for Pep Guardiola's side.
Guardiola is desperate to add another Champions League to his own resume, having not won it for 12 years now, and it is the one trophy missing from the cabinet at the Etihad.
De Bruyne suffered a broken nose, broken eye socket and concussion in the defeat to Chelsea in Porto two years and the 31-year-old also wants to add the competition the players' prize above all others to his CV this weekend.
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Asked if winning the competition was now a dream or an obsession for City, he said: "Maybe both, it depends who you ask. Every professional player wants to win the Champions League and be on top.
"If you can win the Champions League, you’ve reached one of the biggest things you can. To compete every year is amazing. I’ve been able to compete against the best. We’ve got a chance to close that if we are good enough."
There is an argument City will be wiser to winning a final after that heartbreak two years ago, but De Bruyne doesn't believe the build-up to the final feels much different this time around.
"I don’t feel a lot of difference. Maybe the difference now is that we had to play the FA Cup final last week," he said. "We had a long two weeks two years ago. Maybe that’s a good thing, 90 minutes against United. My view on preparing, I don’t want to do too many things different. It’s a hectic week but I try to be as normal as possible."
De Bruyne was in jovial mood ahead of the biggest game of his career and when asked by a Norwegian journalist whether it was love at first sight with Erling Haaland, he replied: "No, I’m happy with my wife."
But he did open up on their on-pitch chemistry which will be a major threat to Inter at the Ataturk Stadium.
"It’s something that I can’t really explain, you just have a feeling with a player," he said. "You understand what he wants, he understands what I can do.
"He started scoring at an incredible rate, it helped him settle. Even in the last games he’s been really important for us in different ways."
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