Man City move step closer to Champions League and redemption of season as Kevin De Bruyne says farewell

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.

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.