LONDON — It took Kevin De Bruyne less than five minutes to show why his return from injury could be so crucial for Manchester City in the second half of the Premier League season.
Five months after having surgery on a hamstring injury, De Bruyne came off the bench to score the equalizer and set up an injury-time winner for City in a 3-2 win at Newcastle on Saturday.
De Bruyne had not made a league appearance since the opening round of the season in August, but it looked like he’d never been away.
With City trailing 2-1 at St. James’ Park and Pep Guardiola’s team struggling to find the bit of quality needed to break down the hosts’ defense, De Bruyne came on in the 69th minute and turned the game around with two perfect touches of his right foot.
In the 74th, he collected the ball and drove forward toward the area before sidefooting a pinpoint finish just inside the near post, out of reach of goalkeeper Martin Dubravka. And in stoppage time, he lifted a perfectly weighted ball into the box for substitute Oscar Bobb to score his first Premier League goal and complete the comeback.
“I missed this,” De Bruyne said. “I think it was more willpower than anything else. It was crazy. I know I’m not able to do that for 90 minutes at the moment. I can put in a shift for 30 minutes at the moment. I feel it in my lungs, especially with the cold.”
Bobb’s goal handed Newcastle a fourth straight league loss and Eddie Howe’s team is now behind Chelsea, which climbed into eighth place with a 1-0 win over Fulham. Only two games were played Saturday with half of the Premier League teams having the weekend off for a short winter break.
For City, it was a sixth straight win in all competitions, but the psychological boost…
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