A tear rolled down Pep Guardiola’s cheek. Kevin de Bruyne had been given the guard of honour by his teammates, seen the montage on the big screen of some of his magnificent moments over the last decade. Then came the videoed tributes from the men who are part of his, and Guardiola’s, past: from Sergio Aguero and Vincent Kompany, from Raheem Sterling and Leroy Sane, from Fernandinho and Pablo Zabaleta. He just about kept his own emotions in check.
An era ended with a mosaic of De Bruyne unveiled at the training ground and a statue of him commissioned to stand outside the Etihad Stadium. The Manchester City faithful had taken a break from incessant chants of his name to chorus that they wanted him to stay. “I’ll always be around,” said arguably the outstanding player in the ground’s history. Just in bronze and not on the pitch.
“I am pretty sure when Kevin arrives here was not a Man City fan. Now he is and will be forever,” said Guardiola after De Bruyne waved farewell, his three children by his side, with a host of presents. Including one that Guardiola prized most.
He had said his captain’s ideal parting gift would be a win to propel City towards the Champions League. They got it, leapfrogging them from sixth to third. They only require a point at Fulham on Sunday to salvage something from the most troubled of campaigns.
On the night, as over the season, it has not been De Bruyne’s perfect goodbye. As City made it clear how much they will miss him, he left with one of the more extraordinary misses of his time in blue. He departed earlier than he would have wanted, an indirect consequence of a red card, just as he had hoped for another contract. It was, though, an evening for celebrations, not recriminations.
“A sad day but a lovely day for him,” said Guardiola. De Bruyne could smile about the open goal he spurned, hitting the bar from five yards. “It was terrible, terrible,” said a man who has always had an endearing honesty. “There are no excuses. My son is going to be very hard on me.”
So there was no 109th goal; no 178th assist either. The standing ovation De Bruyne was always guaranteed was fast-tracked, Guardiola forced to alter his plans when Mateo Kovacic was sent off. De Bruyne went with a wave to all four stands. “After a decade, there is this incredible love and respect and gratitude,” said Guardiola, who hugged De Bruyne. Had he known it would soon be 10 against 10, Lewis Cook deserving his dismissal 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, so the veteran had been taken off. Neither De Bruyne’s miss nor his early exit harmed 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 tributes to 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.
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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 fielded the captain off the right of a front three, but with a licence to roam, and De Bruyne showed touches of quality.
Others showed more. 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. 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 from 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. It was too late for Bournemouth: 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 a man Aguero described as a legend. After the sound of “Oh, Kevin de Bruyne”, they will have no Kevin de Bruyne.
