One of the building blocks of Manchester City as we now know them, Vincent Kompany returned to Anderlecht in 2019 before retiring fully in 2020.
He’s now their full-time manager, and trying to return the Jupiler Pro League side to the top of a championship they once used to dominate on a yearly basis.
However, there’s no forgetting the 11 years he spent at Manchester City, where he made 359 appearances in all competitions, scored 19 goals and assisted another 11.
That’s why he was asked about his former club’s exit from the Champions League on Friday afternoon as he attended a press conference ahead of Sunday’s game against Antwerp.
The Manchester City legend explained he watched the game with his son, whose reaction to the game is a reminder of how innocent children can still be.
“I told him: ‘Listen, that’s top level football. It’s not just the Real Madrid badge and shirt. They are players who know what they need to do in important moments. It’s part of the game’. He doesn’t understand that entirely yet.”
In fact, following the 4-3 win at the Etihad, the young Manchester City fan already believed his team had their flight booked for Paris for the final.
Kompany added: “He was already at the final in his head. He was asking me a lot of questions about Paris and the final. I told him: ‘First, let me deal with the Champions Play-Offs with Anderlecht and ensure we avoid the qualifying rounds’.”
