Manchester City showed the heart of champions to defeat Newcastle 3-2 on Saturday, courtesy to a Kevin De Bruyne masterclass on his return to Premier League action, according to Pep Guardiola.
The Belgian came off the bench to score and set up Oscar Bobb’s stoppage-time winner, capping off his impressive recovery from a five-month injury absence.
Victory propels City to second place in the standings, two points behind Liverpool, and ominously set to strike when they return from a two-week Christmas break, by which time Erling Haaland may be healthy to join De Bruyne in terrorizing opposing defenses.
“That was really good, sometimes it is better winning that way,” Guardiola went on to say.
“We played with a lot of character. They demonstrated to me that they want to remain there, to fight to the finish if they want to keep the championship.”
Newcastle were defeated for the sixth time in their past seven Premier League games, thanks to a devastating late twist.
But, despite being severely outplayed, a point would have been more than Newcastle deserved if not for two goals in two first-half minutes that threatened to disappoint the champions.
“In the end, their quality won out.” “De Bruyne is obviously a world-class player,” Howe stated this week, after the club’s chief executive Darren Eales openly praised him.
“There isn’t much wrong with our performances.” Today, you can tell that we are a top team. I don’t see anything negative about the group. I sense pain because we aren’t winning, and that is why we are here.”
The frenzied match got off to a shaky start as City goalkeeper Ederson was pulled off hurt while attempting to prevent Sean Longstaff from scoring.
The goal was ruled out because Alexander Isak was obviously offside in the build-up, and City were upset that the flag was not raised sooner to protect the Brazilian.
Silva’s magical moment
Guardiola’s players controlled the first half-hour but lacked De Bruyne’s elegance and Haaland’s presence up front to transform possession into a cutting edge.
It took a moment of brilliance from Bernardo Silva for City to break the stalemate.
On 26 minutes, the Portuguese backheeled Kyle Walker’s low cross into the far corner.
A superb stop from Martin Dubravka deflected another lovely shot from Silva into the post moments later.
The game, however, was altered in a remarkable two-minute span right before halftime.
Bruno Guimaraes split the City defense with one ball, allowing Isak to dart inside Walker and curl wonderfully into the far corner.
Anthony Gordon took a same path as the Swede, turning inside onto his right foot and blasting into the far corner, seconds later.
City regained control of the game at the start of the second period, but lacked a punch in attack until De Bruyne returned to Premier League play for the first time since the season began.
The 32-year-old, who made his FA Cup debut as a substitute in last weekend’s 5-0 destruction of Huddersfield, soon demonstrated what the European champions have been lacking.
De Bruyne latched onto Rodri’s ball 16 minutes from time and raced forward before finishing low and accurate from outside the area.
Despite his limited playing time this season, De Bruyne has created more assists than any other player in Europe’s top five leagues since the beginning of last season.
And another fantastic pass over the top for Bobb resulted in the winner.
The young Norwegian still had a lot of work to do, but he showed quick feet to round Dubravka and put into an open net for his maiden Premier League goal.
“When Kevin has the ball and we have runners, Kevin is unique in the world but the finish by Oscar, I am so, so happy for him,” Guardiola told the press.
In contrast to City’s joy, another loss for Newcastle may have effectively destroyed their chances of finishing in the top four, as they drop to 10th, 11 points below the Champions League positions.