Kevin De Bruyne sparked Manchester City’s remarkable fightback from two goals down in a 5-2 win over Crystal Palace in the Premier League on Saturday that re-ignited his team’s Champions League qualification hopes.
The 33-year-old De Bruyne curled a free kick in off the post to begin the comeback in the 33rd minute and had a hand in goals by Omar Marmoush and Mateo Kovacic in the first half. James McAtee added a fourth — off a pass from goalkeeper Ederson, who later came off injured — before fellow academy product Nico O’Reilly wrapped up the win.
It was a display showing the enduring quality of De Bruyne, who announced last week he would be leaving City at the end of the season after 10 years at the club.
Injuries have affected the Belgium playmaker's impact in recent seasons but his class can still shine through, with his assist for Kovacic the 119th of his Premier League career.
“I would say basically I have been pain-free for the last six weeks and that’s a massive difference,” De Bruyne said. “It was hard but now I feel free, and able to do a lot of training sessions. I don’t know what's going to happen but I want to play on. We will see where I can end up.”
Eberechi Eze and Chris Richards scored in the first 21 minutes for Palace to shock City into action.
The victory lifted City into fourth place above Chelsea and Newcastle, who have games in hand in the race to secure England's five Champions League spots. City moved two points behind third-place Nottingham Forest, which hosts Everton later Saturday.
Seventh-place Aston Villa, also in contention for Champions League qualification, visits already-relegated Southampton. Second-place Arsenal is at home to Brentford in between matches against Real Madrid in the Champions League quarterfinals.
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Steve Douglas is at https://twitter.com/sdouglas80
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AP soccer: https://apnews.com/hub/soccer
