De Bruyne inspires emphatic turnaround after first-half scare

Kevin De Bruyne inspired a Manchester City comeback as they recovered from 2-0 down to beat Crystal Palace 5-2 and boost their Champions League aspirations.

City looked to be in huge trouble after 21 minutes, goals from Eberechi Eze and Chris Richards giving Palace a two-goal lead that would have been three had the former not strayed offside.

But a vintage 33rd-minute free-kick from De Bruyne, who announced last week that he would be leaving City at the end of the season, halved the deficit and he then laid on the assist for Omar Marmoush to equalise.

Palace never looked like recovering thereafter, and De Bruyne teed up Kovacic to put City ahead before goals from James McAtee and Nico O’Reilly clinched an ultimately emphatic victory as Pep Guardiola’s side leapfrogged Newcastle United and Chelsea and moved into the top four.

Manchester City v Crystal Palace

Palace silenced the Etihad Stadium in the ninth minute when they sliced their way through the City defence, Daniel Muñoz playing a superb ball down right for Ismaila Sarr, whose far-post cross was tucked home by Eze.

Marmoush almost produced an instant response, but the Egypt international was denied by Dean Henderson following a rapid City counter orchestrated by Rico Lewis and De Bruyne.

The profligacy displayed by Marmoush was punished as Palace put themselves in a position of command, Richards rising to nod home Adam Wharton’s corner after Ederson failed to deal with the dangerous ball in.

De Bruyne then cracked the post with a long-range effort before Eze found the bottom-right corner at the end of another free-flowing Palace attack, only to see his strike correctly ruled out for offside.

That would prove a turning point in the match as De Bruyne lifted City back into the game with a typical moment of brilliance, bending a free-kick in off the post with Henderson completely helpless.

Vintage Kevin De Bruyne 😮‍💨

The skipper with an incredible free-kick to pull a goal back for the hosts 🎯

📺 @tntsports & @discoveryplusUK pic.twitter.com/erIP0IgCbl

— Football on TNT Sports (@footballontnt) April 12, 2025

De Bruyne then turned provider as City levelled matters three minutes later, cushioning McAtee’s cross back for Marmoush to lash beyond Henderson.

The Belgian almost incredibly completed a turnaround shortly before the break. However, after artfully creating space in the box, De Bruyne could only fire over the bar.

But De Bruyne did have a role to play in City making it 3-2 just two minutes after the restart, laying off O’Reilly’s left-wing cross for Kovacic to find the bottom-left corner.

McAtee then gave City breathing room, Ederson atoning for his part in Palace’s second with an outstanding long ball to find the England Under-21 international, who poked the ball beyond Henderson and then slotted into an empty net.

Marmoush nearly put the game beyond Palace when he latched onto De Bruyne’s perfectly placed right-wing cross, but this time Henderson was equal to his close-range effort.

City’s joy was dampened somewhat when Ederson limped off to be replaced by Stefan Ortega, but a cultured side-footed finish from Nico O’Reilly added gloss to the scoreline with his first Premier League goal.