Man City vs Crystal Palace LIVE: Kevin De Bruyne inspires City comeback from two goals down in seven-goal thriller
Manchester City 5-2 Crystal Palace: Kevin De Bruyne was the hero of the hour as City fought back from 2-0 down to an utterly dominant win
Manchester City contested a rollercoaster seven-goal thriller against Crystal Palace, producing one of their best performances of the season to fight back from two goals down.
Pep Guardiola’s men finished 5-2 up at the Etihad, with departing star Kevin De Bruyne sparking City into life and ensuring they put the pressure on Newcastle and Chelsea in the battle for the Champions League places with the Premier League now guaranteed five qualification spots in Europe’s top tier.
The hosts moved up to fourth in the top flight, just two points off third-placed Nottingham Forest, with goals from De Bruyne, Omar Marmoush, Mateo Kovacic, James McAtee and Nico O'Reilly completing a stunning comeback after going 2-0 down in a little over 20 minutes.
Eberechi Eze and Chris Richards - the latter scoring his first Premier League goal this season - put the visitors in front, with City completely carved open at the back, but the game hinged on a third Palace goal and second for Eze, which was disallowed for offside. From there De Bruyne led an inspired fightback to dismantle one of the league’s in-form sides and go some way to ending his long career at the Etihad on a high.
Follow all of the latest from the Etihad Stadium with our live blog below:
Kevin De Bruyne rolls back the years as Crystal Palace crumble in the face of an all-time great
A comeback for the ages, courtesy of the ageing great.
They will miss him when he’s gone, the man who is arguably Manchester City’s greatest ever player. But when he does, Kevin De Bruyne’s legacy looks likelier to include Champions League football. The Belgian’s City career has produced medals and memories, with some more of the latter created by a masterclass in one of his valedictory outings on home soil.
Kevin de Bruyne rolls back the years with masterclass against crystal Palace
What the stats say
The stats reflect City’s ultimate dominance: the hosts had nine shots on target to the opposition’s three, with Palace almost completely anonymous in the second half, and 68% possession to their 31%.
City had 30 touches in the opposition box; Palace had just nine, with the vast majority before the break.
De Bruyne free-kick 'changed the momentum'
Guardiola says De Bruyne’s goal “changed the momentum” of the game.
“We scored two and after the second half started our next two goals was quick,” he continues on TNT Sports. “If you see the chances that we had we could have scored eight or nine easy because we arrive in the final third, one against one with the keeper how many times? The work ethic, the way we played was really good.”
'The Kevin we have known for many years' - Guardiola
Now speaking on MOTD, Guardiola says, “I would say we played really good all game. We were 2-0 down and we created a lot and I said at half time we were playing good.
“Our momentum was sparked with a free-kick from Kevin and after that we played a really good game considering we were 2-0 down and considering how Crystal Palace have been in the past games.”
He’s full of praise for De Bruyne, saying, “The Kevin we have known for many years. I know he's struggled the last year and a half. He's free without pain and completely different. The way we played helped him a lot with incredible runners, the young lads, the full-backs."
On the fight for the Champions League places, he says, “We'll see tomorrow the position, it will be so tight. It will be until the end. Six games left, difficult games.”
Did either side deserve a penalty?
There were two shouts for a penalty in that game, one for either side. Pep Guardiola wasn’t happy about Chris Richards not being penalised for a pull on the shirt of Omar Marmoush when the latter was through on goal, and it visibly put the Egyptian off.
Then Palace were frustrated as Rico Lewis seemed to clear a cross by the visitors with a combination of his face, shoulder, arm and hand deep in added time.
VAR had a quick look but didn’t award either penalty.
'I want to play on,' says De Bruyne
“It’s been a hard year,” De Bruyne says. “Having a hernia was not much fun but I’ve been pain free for the past six weeks and that’s made a big difference. It was hard but now I feel free. I’m able to do a lot of training sessions. I don’t know what’s going to happen but I want to play on. We’ll see where I can end up.”
'I don't know how I'm going to feel' - De Bruyne on leaving City
“I don’t know how I’m going to feel [after leaving],” De Bruyne says. “I’ve been here so long, my family’s been here 10 years, my kids were born in Manchester and live their whole life here.
“It’s going to be something different for them and I think they’re a bit scared, excited. It’s a big unknown because we don’t know what’s going to happen for the moment. I want to play good football like I did today but I’ll be fine. If I can play football and my family’s happy, I’m good.”
'What's going on here?' - De Bruyne on going 2-0 down
More from De Bruyne on TNT Sports, on the second Eze goal that was disallowed: “I thought the first 20 minutes it was actually alright. We had a couple of chances but they pounced on two chances, one, a corner and then obviously the Eze chance.
“I was wondering ‘What’s going on here?’ but I think the reaction was really good. Obviously scoring very quickly the first and the second changed the feeling of the game. I think overall we played really well.”
'The scoreline didn't reflect the first 20 minutes', says De Bruyne
“The scoreline didn’t reflect what I thought about the first 20 minutes,” City’s star man says on TNT Sports.
“We found a way to change the game and 10 years is not going to change in 20 minutes. I’m going to enjoy every moment that I have here and I’m happy that we found a way to perform well today.”
How the table looks
City are up to fourth, but have played a game more than Chelsea and Newcastle, who are hot on their heels and just two points behind. The reigning Premier League champions are just two points off third-placed Nottingham Forest, who are in action this afternoon too.
Crystal Palace stay 11th, two points behind Bournemouth in 10th as the fight for the European places continues.
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