Kevin de Bruyne’s ideal leaving present, Pep Guardiola had suggested, was a victory that helped Manchester City qualify for the Champions League. City’s appreciation for their departing great extended beyond the points, with a mosaic dedicated to him at the training ground and road named after him, with a giant tifo of “King Kev” at the Etihad Stadium, a montage of his finest moments on the big screen, incessant chants of his name.
But they got the win. It remains to be seen if De Bruyne will be in the Champions League next season but it is very likely City will be. A victory that allowed them to leap from sixth to third means they only require a point at Fulham on Sunday. It won’t be a perfect goodbye to De Bruyne, but they should salvage something from this most troubled of seasons.
If the City supporters left arguably the outstanding player in their history in no doubt they will miss him, an unfortunate element of De Bruyne’s farewell came in the form of a miss. His 108 City goals have included many a special strike. There should have been a 109th, and one of the simplest. Instead, he spurned an open goal; from five yards, hitting the bar with his left foot. Disbelief engulfed the Etihad, with De Bruyne looking among the surprised.
There was no parting goal, no final assist. The standing ovation De Bruyne was always guaranteed arrived sooner than anticipated, Guardiola forced to alter his plans when Mateo Kovacic was sent off. De Bruyne went with a wave to all four stands, with Guardiola joining in the applause and hugging him. Had he known it would soon be 10 against 10, Lewis Cook getting a fully deserved red card for a dreadful challenge on the substitute Nico Gonzalez, perhaps he could have left De Bruyne on. Instead, the slick finish came from the forgotten £50m man.
But the result was of paramount importance, and the veteran was taken off. City earned victory, neither De Bruyne’s miss nor his early exit costing City. The goal worthy of the Belgian instead came from Omar Marmoush. It was City’s future who completed the scoring, in Gonzalez, not the man who will soon be their past, in De Bruyne. The thirty-something midfielders who instead combined to double City’s lead instead were Ilkay Gundogan and Bernardo Silva. Kovacic was the fourth midfielder in his fourth decade to start, as if part of the celebration of De Bruyne involved cramming in his contemporaries.
The Croatian played well, too, demonstrating that City missed him in the FA Cup final, until he paid the price for a compatriot’s mistake. Josko Gvardiol inadvertently found Evanilson with a stray pass. Kovacic tugged the Brazilian back to incur the sending off that rules him out of the trip to Fulham.
It could mean a pivotal role for Gonzalez or Rodri, who made his comeback after an eight-month absence as a late replacement. Under other circumstances, the Ballon d’Or winner may have commanded the attention. Here, he was reduced to a subplot, even if his arrival was greeted with a deafening cheer.
Rodri was named the world’s best in 2023. De Bruyne’s is City’s nonpareil. Guardiola’s refusal on Monday to confirm he was starting turned out to be kidology. He fielded the captain off the right of a front three, but with a licence to roam. De Bruyne showed touches of quality, a couple of passes that demonstrated his enduring ability to pierce a defence, and delivered a cross that Erling Haaland almost hooked in.
Haaland’s mini-drought continued but as the occasion drew some distinguished spectators, the City cult heroes Pablo Zabaleta and Giorgi Kinkladze among them, they were given something special to savour. After a stalemate at Southampton and the Wembley defeat to Crystal Palace, after successive blanks, City required a goal of any kind. Their first in three games was wondrous, remarkable from and restorative for Marmoush.
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The Egyptian had failed to score from 12 yards in the FA Cup final. He succeeded from the best part of 30, and in spectacular style, with a dipping shot that descended from the sky, clipped the post and induced gasps of wonder from the crowd.
Bournemouth almost levelled, a stretching Evanilson hitting the post from Marcus Tavernier’s cross, before City gave themselves breathing space. Bernardo Silva guided in a near-post shot after a deft reverse pass from Ilkay Gundogan.
Sent on to shore up victory, Gonzalez instead secured it, with a shot from 20 yards before Daniel Jebbison struck in the 96th minute after a second awful back pass from City, with Matheus Nunes the late culprit.
But Bournemouth, who had inflicted City’s first defeat of the league campaign, could not mete out a last. Their own season has petered out. A run of 13 games with a lone win has cost them a trip to the continent. They cannot finish eighth or qualify for Europe now. Meanwhile, City should be in the Champions League; as usual, but without De Bruyne.
