De Bruyne inspires City comeback win over Magpies

Kevin De Bruyne sparkled on his return to action, as Manchester City recorded a dramatic 3-2 win over Newcastle at St James' Park in one of the games of the season on Saturday. 

City's Belgian playmaker entered the fray as a second-half substitute with his team trailing 2-1, but he fired home a controlled finish to level the scores before picking out fellow sub Oscar Bobb for an injury-time matchwinner. 

The result was arguably the right one, but was still harsh on a spirited Newcastle side who had overturned Bernardo Silva's opener thanks to excellent finishes from Aleksander Isak and Anthony Gordon. 

The Action: An entertaining game appeared in store ahead of kick-off at St James' Park and both sides were straight out of the traps. 

From a City perspective, there was unwanted drama almost immediately, as the officials allowed a Newcastle attack to evolve despite a clear offside. Sean Longstaff's resulting 'goal' was chalked off by VAR, but the visitors' goalkeeper Ederson was injured at the end of the move and subsequently replaced by Stefan Ortega (after the Brazilian almost cost his team a goal after trying to play on in obvious discomfort!). 

The game settled into a fast-paced rhythm, City playing on the front foot, but Newcastle posing a considerable threat on the counter-attack. 

It was Pep Guardiola's champions who took the lead, however, on 26 minutes. A coming together between Anthony Gordon and Ruben Dias had the home fans baying for blood, but referee Chris Kavanagh rightly allowed play to continue and some nice play from Jeremy Doku found Kyle Walker, whose cross was delightfully flicked into the net by Bernardo Silva. 

Rather than fold in the face of adversity, Eddie Howe's Magpies instead roared back at their illustrious visitors and two quickfire goals turned the game on its head. 

On 35 minutes, Aleksander Isak levelled for the hosts with an expert curling finish from Bruno Guimaraes' smart pass and then Gordon took the roof off with a carbon copy finish after again finding space cutting in from the left. 

Half-time: Man City 1-2 Newcastle United

The pattern of the game, with City dominating possession and on the attack, remained the same after the interval - and Julian Alvarez drew a decent stop from Newcastle keeper Martin Dubravka with a direct free-kick on 54 minutes. 

City continued to create and push, but the Magpies were standing firm, Guimaraes notably nicking the ball off Phil Foden's foot to save his side at one point. 

Guardiola's side needed a spark and they found it when the Spaniard threw Kevin De Bruyne into the fray for Silva on 71 minutes.

Impressively, it took the Belgian just three minutes to announce his return from injury, as he picked the ball up midway into Newcastle's half before passing the ball into the corner of the net to level the score at 2-2.

Kevin De Bruyne vs Newcastle:

21 minutes played
1 goal
1 assist
1 big chance created
3 key passes

Our King is BACK! 🔥 pic.twitter.com/BaFFtXT8B7

— City Chief (@City_Chief) January 13, 2024

By this stage, Newcastle were struggling to keep any kind of possession and it was a matter of whether City could pick their way through their hosts densely packed defence and midfield. 

With less than 10 minutes on the clock, De Bruyne and Rodri did exactly that: the Belgian's perfectly judged ball allowing the Spaniard to stride forward, do a double-stepover and drive in a snapshot that Dubravka did well to paw to safety. 

City were not to be denied, though, and Guardiola repeated his trick off the bench as De Bruyne found fellow substitute Oscar Bobb with a delightful cross from deep that the youngster did wonderfully to control and guide into the net in one fluid movement. 

xG: Newcastle (1.31) 2-3 (3.11) Man City

OSCAR BOBB, BOBB, BOBB! 🇳🇴🤩 pic.twitter.com/QHN2YGaMb9

— Manchester City (@ManCity) January 13, 2024