KEVIN DE BRUYNE gave Manchester City fans a glimpse of what they’ll soon be missing by leading the comeback in a bizarre game.
Crystal Palace’s quickfire start had earned them a shock – but fully merited – early 2-0 lead, thanks to goals from Eberi Eze and Chris Richards.
Kevin De Bruyne inspired Man City’s stunning comeback[/caption]
Omar Marmoush was amongst the goals again[/caption]
Mateo Kovacic scored after being set up by a clever De Bruyne pass[/caption]
James McAtee latched onto a long ball and netted City’s fourth[/caption]
Nico O’Reilly’s fifth ensured they moved into the top four of the table[/caption]
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But then De Bruyne, who manager Pep Guardiola has chosen to offload at the end of the season, rolled back the years and took command.
The City skipper has been a shadow of his magnificent self for much of the campaign, but against Palace we got the brilliant Belgian of old.
De Bruyne scored one and had a hand in THREE others, and the Etihad paid homage by bellowing out his name.
He had already seen one follow-up strike blocked for a corner, and a whipped effort which rattled the upright before making it third time lucky on 33 minutes.
Everyone knew what was coming as De Bruyne stepped up to take the free kick after Nico Gonzalez was chopped by Daichi Kamada.
But stopping it was something else entirely, and keeper Dean Henderson never got close as his shot went through a huge gap and in off the post.
A couple of minutes later De Bruyne turned provider by nodding James McAtee’s cleverly lofted cross back intro the danger zone.
Ilkay Gundogan missed out with an awkward-height volley, but Omar Marmoush was never going to at the far post and it was all square.
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Yet it was far from comeback complete, because two minutes after the break City were ahead – and once more De Bruyne had a part to play in a marvellously crafted strike.
Gundogan began it by feeding Nico O’Reilly down left. He dragged it back to De Bruyne, who stopped the ball dead and laid it off for Mateo Kovacic to smash into the corner.
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Ten minutes later keeper Ederson was the unlikeliest of creators when he pumped a clearance downfield and McAtee raced beyond everyone.
The City youngster – on Bayer Leverkusen’s summer hit list – took a touch to control, another to steady himself and the third was to stroke it into an empty net.
It was just about all Ederson had to do in the second half, before limping out of the closing stages with a muscle strain.
City, though, still hadn’t finished and ten minutes from time Nico O’Reilly was celebrating a first Prem goal when his left foot volley clipped Nathaniel Clyne and flew into the corner.
De Bruyne finally took his bow for the closing minutes, leaving to a standing ovation. You suspect there will be a few more before he finally exits the Etihad for good.
Crystal Palace’s Eberechi Eze opened the scoring[/caption]
Chris Richards gave Palace a shock 2-0 lead with a header from a corner[/caption]
Semi-automated offside technology helped rule out Palace’s third[/caption]