Kevin De Bruyne is the piece that Manchester City has been looking for. And he showed his prowess in a comeback win against Newcastle.
Five months after having surgery on a hamstring injury, De Bruyne came off the bench to score the equalizer and set up an injury-time winner for City in a 3-2 win at Newcastle on Saturday.
With City trailing 2-1 at St. James’ Park, they could not find a way to penetrate the Newcastle defense till De Bruyne came.
“I missed this,” De Bruyne said. “I think it was more willpower than anything else. It was crazy. I know I’m not able to do that for 90 minutes at the moment. I can put in a shift for 30 minutes at the moment. I feel it in my lungs, especially with the cold.”
In the 74th minute, he collected the ball and drove forward toward the area before side footing the ball away from goalkeeper Martin Dubravka.
This is Newcastle’s fourth straight league loss and Eddie Howe’s team is now behind Chelsea, which climbed into eighth place with a 1-0 win over Fulham.
“When Kevin has the ball, and we have runners, Kevin is unique in the world,” Guardiola said. “But the finish by Oscar, I am so, so happy for him.”
Guardiola’s team climbed above Aston Villa into second place but is still two points behind leader Liverpool.
