Manchester City

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Kevin De Bruyne might have inspired Manchester City's comeback against Crystal Palace but it was his post-match comments that have got people talking.

"They took a decision and now I am okay with it," said the playmaker on him leaving City at the end of the season.

His words heavily implying that it was the club's decision to part ways this summer than his own.

"It's crazy to me, but it is the business we are in," said Nigel Reo-Coker on the BBC Radio 5 Live Football Daily podcast. "The beast of the business.

"If you have a player with the quality of Kevin de Bruyne, then to me you give him a year's contract.

"Even if he is not at the physical level needed, he doesn't have to play every single game. The experience that he brings there and the way he can set the culture for the next generation at City is priceless.

"It's a hard pill to swallow for De Bruyne when the club make that decision."

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Rico Lewis says that everything will be "different" without Kevin De Bruyne next year when the midfielder leaves after his contract runs out.

De Bruyne has won 16 trophies since joining Manchester City from Wolfsburg in 2015, including six Premier League titles and the Champions League in 2023.

And Lewis, who praised his captain's performance, in the 5-2 win over Crystal Palace at the Etihad said: "I's going to be different without him.

"With Kevin, it's such a big story and again he showed his quality. Everyone will miss him when he's gone."

De Bruyne scored the a goal and contributed two assists to help City fight back from 2-0 down.

The result keeps City's Champions League hopes alive during what has been a disappointing season for the title holders with six games remaining,

Lewis, 20, said the result against the London-based side was "massive for the confidence" and "sends a message out to everyone else as well that we're focused - we've got our goal and we're going to achieve it."

There is also still speculation over German midfielder Ilkay Gundogan's future even though a one-year extension has been triggered.

Gundogan rejoined City after leaving for a free in 2023 to play for Barcelona in La Liga.

Guardiola said: "The Gundo here and the Gundo at Bournemouth, Leicester - that's the Gundo I remember, the one that helped us win the treble and the 'quadruple' and was such an important player.

"What will happen (this summer) I don't know, but he has one more year on his contract here now."

It has been reported that Brazilian goalkeeper Ederson will be assessed due to picking up a recurring muscle injury in the second half.

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We asked for your views on Manchester City's Premier League win against Crystal Palace.

Here are some of your comments:

Man City fans

Kevin: Great turn around after being two goals down, brilliant determination from every single player involved today but De Bruyne was outstanding. Brilliant result without key players and our youngsters stepped up today, it's reassuring to know we have them for the future.

Derek: The best I have seen them play for many a week. Back to their old selves.

Monksie: Never in doubt once City scored their first. Despite the continuing plague of injuries to key players that has maimed our season this was a reminder of how good City can still be when they really get the bit between their teeth. Five different scorers, too - and so good to see Nico O'Reilly amongst them.

Crystal Palace fans

Bob: Fantastic start, could have been three up if Eze had timed his run better. There was no reason for Kamada to dive in and give away a silly free-kick. Do not understand why Glasner continues to start him, he is just not good enough.

James: After pressing hard in the first 30 minutes, Palace let City take the upper hand and allowed them too much time on the ball. City free kick shouldn't have found a way through and Henderson made a dog's breakfast of his efforts to stop City's fourth. The bright bits were good and let's hope the result doesn't dwell with the boys.

John: Hollow performance having started well the loss of Guehi for this match highlighted how important he is to the team letting in five goals is a reality check. Hope it is a one off.

Match of the Day pundits Micah Richards and Alan Shearer look at Kevin de Bruyne's exceptional performance against Crystal Palace.

De Bruyne, 33, scored a goal and assisted another at the Etihad stadium against Palace as the home side aim to secure a Champions League spot for next season.

Speaking about the Belgium midfielder's display, Micah Richards said: "He's remarkable. His football intelligence is amazing. His spatial awareness, his weight of pass everything that he has and has been doing for Manchester City for these 10 years is brilliant."

"There is no doubt about it, Alan Shearer added.

"He has been a Premier League giant and if there is one player I wish I could have played with it would have been him. He's a centre-forward's dream."

Simon Stone
Chief football news reporter

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Pep Guardiola offered no guarantees over the future of veteran midfielder Ilkay Gundogan when stating that he only wants fit players in his squad next season, casting further doubt over the futures of defensive duo John Stones and Nathan Ake.

Gundogan made his 43rd appearance of the season in Saturday's 5-2 victory against Crystal Palace, which will be far more than he expected when he returned to the club last summer following a year at Barcelona.

It has also been enough to trigger a clause in his contract to commit to an extra year at Manchester City.

But amid interest from Turkey, where his parents come from, Guardiola says he cannot be sure whether Gundogan will remain at City next season.

"He definitely has one more year on his contract," Guardiola said. "What's going to happen, I don't know.

"The Gundo from Leicester City, the Gundo from Bournemouth and the Gundo from Crystal Palace is the Gundo I remember. When we won the Treble, he was so important.

"It is about his activity and defensive intelligence when he arrives. He has helped us massively but, as a team, we cannot help him individually because it's not about you, you, you."

John Stones has only featured 10 times since the end of October 2024 and hasn't featured at all since lasting just eight minutes in Manchester City's Champions League defeat to Real Madrid on 19 February due to a thigh injury.

Nathan Ake has made just 17 appearances this season and is currently out after fracturing his foot last month.

"Nathan, like John Stones, has been injured all season," Guardiola added. "The most important thing from my point of view, as I said to the club, is which players are reliable for the future.

"You cannot perform if you aren't reliable and you are injured. The players we have, they can either play every three days or they cannot.

"We need to build a squad for next season."

Stones' current contract runs out in June 2026, while Ake's runs until June 2027.

Inter Miami are very interested in signing 33-year-old midfielder Kevin de Bruyne on a free transfer when he leaves Manchester City at the end of the season, although talks are not believed to be advanced at this stage. (Florian Plettenberg), external

Want more transfer news? Read Monday's full gossip column

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Highlights and analysis from Saturday's five Premier League fixtures.

If you missed Match of the Day, you can catch up now on BBC iPlayer.

Listen back to full match commentaries on BBC Sounds:

• Nottingham Forest 0-1 Everton

• Arsenal 1-1 Brentford

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Manchester City boss Pep Guardiola spoke to BBC Match of the Day after victory against Crystal Palace: "I would say we played really good all game. We were 2-0 down and we created a lot and I said at half time we were playing good.

"Our momentum was sparked with a free-kick from Kevin and after that we played a really good game considering we were 2-0 down and considering how Crystal Palace have been in the past games."

On Kevin de Bruyne's performance: "The Kevin we have known for many years. I know he's struggled the last year and a half. He's free without pain and completely different. The way we played helped him a lot with incredible runners, the young lads, the full-backs."

On Ederson coming off: "I don't know. He made the pass and said he felt something and couldn't continue."

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Manchester City midfielder Kevin De Bruyne spoke to BBC Match of the Day after Saturday's victory against Crystal Palace: "I think we started well, had a couple of chances and out of nowhere we're 2-0 behind and it could have been three. The response was good. I thought overall we played pretty much a good game but we gave chances away and they pounced on it. The reaction was really good and in the end I think we deserved to win.

"I want to go away with a Champions League for this team because they deserve it. We've been in the Champions League for the nine, ten years that I've been here so I hope we can do that for the team next year and I'll just try to play good football like I've always done."

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Manchester City have scored 5+ goals in a single Premier League match on 63 different occasions, five more than any other team in the competition, with 39 of those coming under Pep Guardiola.

Were you at the game or following from elsewhere?

Have your say on Man City's performance

Crystal Palace fans, what did you make of their display?

Come back to this page on Monday to find a selection of your replies

Crystal Palace are a really well-balanced team who can cause Manchester City all sorts of problems with their 3-4-3 formation, even though Marc Guehi and Eddie Nketiah are suspended after being sent off against Brighton last week.

The Eagles are in better form than Pep Guardiola's side too, with four wins and a draw from their past five league games - City have only won twice in the same period.

I still cannot move away from a City win, however. I still expect them to win these kind of games at home, even if they are miles away from being the team they were 12 months ago.

We saw more evidence of that last week, because Sunday's Manchester derby was probably the dullest derby game I have ever watched.

You think about when Guardiola came over, and how he transformed the game. For years, City were so watchable.

Now, if they were playing in my back garden I would close the curtains - although that would be a bit harsh on Palace.

Sutton's prediction: 2-1

Read the full predictions and have your say

Five matches make up Saturday's Premier League action and BBC Sport will bring you every kick.

• Manchester City v Crystal Palace (12:30)

• Brighton v Leicester City

• Nottingham Forest v Everton

• Southampton v Aston Villa

• Arsenal v Brentford (17:30)

Kick-off times 15:00 BST unless stated

Follow all of the action and reaction here

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There are lots of different perspectives in terms of how you watch a game of football, and I think for the majority of time the people in the stadium get the best atmosphere, but the worst views of how a game has actually gone.

You don't really get the chance to see multiple replays and have discussions about things, because you just get caught up in the moment.

With the incoming semi automated offsides, they did promise it earlier in the season - but I think the caveat was they're only going to do it when it's ready.

It is a positive that they didn't do it when it wasn't ready.

One upside to to the new technology is some of the arguments disappear. Previously you could say 'but it looks like it's this to me' or 'it looks like it's that to me'. When it is presented now, there aren't many people that will then be looking at the animation, going back to the video, and then going down a proper conspiracy rabbit hole.

So, it ends more arguments, not all arguments, but more arguments.

I think people, as a consequence, will be more accepting of it.

But, I still do believe that there's things for people to understand, because it can't be used in every situation. There are certain decisions which can still be a little bit more complex, and there's certain times where human intervention will still need to be brought in.

I wouldn't say it's as clear as, say, goal line technology, but it's a step in the direction to where most people feel more comfortable accepting the outcome and the speed of it as well will be encouraged.

It's not to say that it's going to be instant. If you believe this is going to be perfect, and always extremely fast, ask yourself, why do you think that?

Unless somebody has told you that from PGMOL, then take it with a pinch of salt and you see how it goes.

I think it's something that many people have seen before so hopefully there will be fewer arguments.

But, because it's football, there'll always be something to argue about the end of the day.

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When Kevin de Bruyne arrived at Manchester City, criticism was levelled at the club and the recruitment for bringing in someone who was essentially a Premier League flop.

To become a player who has now gone down as one of the most iconic midfielders in Premier League history, and who will be in many all time league XIs, has been absolutely astonishing.

For me as a fan of the football club, to see some of the things that he's done while wearing the City shirt has been an absolute joy.

My academy connections will always drag me towards academy players being some of my favourites, but De Bruyne has been one of my favourite City players in my lifetime for the way that he plays and the fact that he's just so good.

There's some stuff that he does that only he could do. When you think about how good players have to be to play at the highest level, here's somebody that is at a level above that.

Some of his passes, his movement, his goals and his leadership have been astonishing and he seems to have enjoyed every single bit of it.

He's very much a Belgian Mancunian and credit to him for everything he has achieved in his time here.

He'll go down as being one of the best to ever do it and the fact that he's done it for City, for me, is a real joy because I've witnessed it all.

Nedum Onuoha was speaking to BBC Sport's Nat Hayward

Five English teams will qualify for next season's Champions League due to their position in the table.

Manchester City are sixth, a point behind Newcastle, who have a game in hand, and Chelsea, who don't.

Given City still have Southampton to play, plus Bournemouth, who are badly out of form, and Wolves, who have been fourth bottom for ages, it would still be a major surprise if Pep Guardiola's side missed out.

He does not quite see it like that.

"I don't agree" was his response to my positive question.

Guardiola pointed to the injuries that have decimated his squad this season and mean he is currently without Erling Haaland, plus defensive trio John Stones, Nathan Ake and Manuel Akanji for tomorrow's encounter with Crystal Palace.

I still think they will do it with a little bit to spare. But it is getting too close for comfort.

Manchester City boss Pep Guardiola has been speaking to the media before Saturday's Premier League game against Crystal Palace (kick-off 12:30 BST).

Here are the key lines from his news conference:

• Guardiola confirmed defensive trio Manuel Akanji, John Stones and Nathan Ake are "still injured" for Saturday's match.

• He is "really satisfied" with the way the injury issues have been handled: "It has happened all season. We adapt. You can see it as a problem or a challenge or a disaster, it could be worse."

• On what position he thinks is best for youngster Nico O'Reilly: "He's box-to-box so he has to be side to side. It's the same power. He's been performing really well and we're really pleased."

• Jack Grealish and Phil Foden "don't feel good" following incidents involving fans during last weekend's Manchester derby: "It's happening everywhere - it is a crazy world. Everything is happening all around the world - it is not just a sport issue. It is not about United, a specific club or department of football. It is happening everywhere, take a look around and you will realise. I think we aren't on the right path."

• On the summer transfer window: "I don't know what will happen. Of course the club is working but we won't have 45 players in the squad, it's not sustainable for the emotion of the team. Except Kevin [de Bruyne], they all have a contract and we will see how they behave and how we are. We're going to see."

Follow all of Friday's Premier League news conferences and the rest of the day's football news