Kevin De Bruyne gave Manchester City fans a glimpse of what they will soon miss by leading the comeback in a bizarre competition.
The Quickfire Start from Crystal Palace had delivered them a shock, but completely earned-early 2-0 lead, thanks to goals from Eberi Eze and Chris Richards.
But then De Bruyne, who chose Pep Guardiola manager to load at the end of the season, rolled back the years and took the command.
The city skipper has been a shadow of his beautiful self for a large part of the campaign, but against Palace we got the brilliant Belgian from the past.
De Bruyne scored one and had a hand in three others, and the Etihad paid tribute by roaring his name.
He had already seen one follow -up strike for a corner, and a beaten effort that rattled the upright before he made the third time happiness in 33 minutes.
Everyone knew what came when De Bruyne stepped to take the free kick after Nico Gonzalez was chopped by Daichi Kamada.
But stopping was something completely different, and keeper Dean Henderson never came close when his shot went through a huge gap and in the pole.
A few minutes later, De Bruyne Provider was nodged by James McATee's smartly raised cross -procession of the danger zone.
Ilkay Gundogan missed an uncomfortable volley, but Omar Marmoush would never go on the far post and it was all square.
Best free bets and registration offers
Yet it was far from comeback complete, because two minutes after the Break City was at the forefront – and again De Bruyne had a role to play in a miraculously manufactured strike.
Gundogan began to take it through Nico O'Reilly. He dragged it back to De Bruyne, who stopped the ball and turned it off for Mateo Kovacic to hit the corner.
Ten minutes later, keeper Niererson was the most unlikely makers when he pumped a clearance field and ran McATee above everyone.
The city young – on the summer list of Bayer Leverkusen – took a touch to check, another to stabilize itself and the third was to stroke it in an empty net.
It was just about everything that Ederson had to do in the second half before he pulled out the final phase with a muscle tension.
City was still not ready and ten minutes after the time, Nico O'Reilly celebrated a first prem goal when his left volley cut Nathaniel Clyne and flew into the corner.
De Bruyne finally took his bow for the last minutes, on the way to a standing ovation. You suspect that there will be a few more before he finally leaves the Etihad forever.
Comments