Kevin De Bruyne’s final match at the Etihad Stadium ended on a happy note as Manchester City head into the final Premier League match-day with the fate of UEFA Champions League qualification in their hands following a 3-1 win over Bournemouth on Tuesday night.
De Bruyne will leave City at the end of this season when his contract expires, drawing the curtains on a decade of excellence with a win reminiscent of City’s best moments with the Belgian midfielder, who came close to adding a cherry on top of the cake with a goal against the Cherries.
City opened the scoring after 14 minutes through Omar Marmoush, who ran into space after getting the ball from Matteo Kovacic in midfield and unleashed a powerful shot that flew past Kepa Arrizabalaga into the top corner.
De Bruyne came close to marking his final home match with City with a goal in the 25th minute when Marmoush squared a pass to him with a gaping goal to aim at, only for the captain to send a first-time effort crashing off the crossbar.
ALSO READ: Kevin De Bruyne Confirms Decision To Leave Manchester City
Bournemouth needed a win to keep alive any chance of making the UEFA Conference League next season, and Evanilson came close to levelling the scores at the end of a neat team move only to be denied by the post just past the half-hour mark.
Andoni Iraola’s men were made to rue that miss just seven minutes later as City, looking to get ahead in a five-team race for three UCL spots, doubled their lead through Bernardo Silva after 38 minutes.
The Cherries were handed a bit of a lifeline when Kovacic received a straight red card in the 67th minute for fouling Evanilson and denying a goalscoring chance, only for the visitors to be reduced to 10 men themselves when Lewis Cook’s badly timed tackle earned him an early bath after 73 minutes.
Nico Gonzalez, off the bench for De Bruyne, sealed the win with a late third for City while Canadian forward, Daniel Jebbison, got a consolation for Bournemouth in the sixth minute of stoppage time.
The result sends City up to third on the table with 68 points and now needing just a point at Fulham this weekend to seal a UCL return. Bournemouth, on their part, remain 11th with 53 points to crash out of contention for a possible eighth placed finish that could earn a Conference League spot next season.