Even in those opening 20 minutes or so when Crystal Palace scored twice and threatened to run away with it against an alarmingly submissive Manchester City, there was one player in blue waging almost solo resistance.
Kevin De Bruyne watched team-mates all around him wilting and getting picked off by a shaper, smarter Palace and resolved that he would have to take matters into his own hands and bend the game to his will.
What followed was the kind of virtuoso performance that served both to evoke memories of De Bruyne’s prime years and offer a vivid glimpse of what City will miss - and doubtless find so hard to replace - when the 33-year-old Belgium midfielder exits at the end of this season.
By the time he left the field to a standing ovation with three minutes remaining, having orchestrated a quite brilliant comeback when he led by example and coaxed a host of team-mates to file in behind, there was a clear sense among the City supporters of the need to savour the man and his particular brand of magic while they still have him.
Just listen to that standing ovation for Kevin De Bruyne 👏
— Football on TNT Sports (@footballontnt) April 12, 2025
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City have only three Premier League home games of this season left now and then De Bruyne will be gone, like Sergio Aguero and David Silva and Yaya Toure and Vincent Kompany before him. Enjoy him while you can because much of De Bruyne’s appeal lies in the scarcity of his ilk.
“No one can do what Kevin has done,” Pep Guardiola, the City manager, said afterwards when asked about others potentially stepping into the void he will leave. “The gratitude we and I have for him is huge. He played fantastic.”
This game essentially had four acts: first came the surrender from City, whose defensive vulnerabilities all season seemed to crystallise in those meek early stages. Next we had the rebellion, led and sustained by the irrepressible De Bruyne, who simply refused to be cowed or beaten. Act three witnessed the overthrowing of the upstarts who had initially threatened to dismantle the champions only to capitulate themselves. And finally, there was a concluding flourish from City who, with supremacy and order restored, basked in the warm afterglow of an impressive fightback.
De Bruyne scored once, kick-starting the comeback with a laser-like free-kick, set up the third that put City ahead for the first time, was involved in the equaliser, should have scored a second himself and put two chances, both spurned, on a plate with sublime passes for the lively Omar Marmoush. Palace simply could not pin him down. James McAtee, who scored the fourth from a speared long pass by goalkeeper Ederson, who was later substituted with a muscle injury, could have had a hat-trick.
Vintage Kevin De Bruyne 😮💨
The skipper with an incredible free-kick to pull a goal back for the hosts 🎯
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