Manchester City have come within touching distance of securing a place in next season’s Champions League after their 3-1 victory over Bournemouth on Tuesday at the Etihad.
Omar Marmoush (14′) and Bernardo Silva (38′) had City two goals up at the break. Later on, both teams were left with 10 men as City’s Mateo Kovacic (67′) and Bournemouth’s Lewis Cook (73′) got their marching orders for red-card offences, and with around a minute of the 90 remaining, substitute Nico Gonzalez scored another for City, before Bournemouth substitute Daniel Jebbison provided consolation for the Cherries deep in stoppage time.
Teams
City boss Pep Guardiola had only the absence of John Stones to work around.
Ruben Dias and Manuel Akanji paired up in front of Ederson Moraes in goal, with Matheus Nunes on the right and Josko Gvardiol on the left. The two deeper midfield roles were entrusted to Ilkay Gundogan and Mateo Kovacic, while the trio of Bernardo Silva, Kevin De Bruyne and Omar Marmoush played behind Erling Haaland in attack.
Meanwhile, Andoni Iraola in the away dugout had to make do without Ryan Christie, Dango Outtara, Luis Sinisterra and Enes Unal.
With Kepa Arrizabalaga in goal, Real Madrid-bound Dean Huijsen joined Illia Zabarnyi in the heart of defence, with Julian Araujo and Liverpool target Milos Kerkez on the defensive flanks. Lewis Cook and Tyler Adams paired up in the middle of the park, with Antoine Semenyo, Justin Kluivert and Marcus Tavernier supporting striker Evanilson.
Match recap
The visitors actually threatened first, as a rather over-casual moment from Dias allowed Kluivert to enter the box and shoot, though the angle wasn’t the best for the Bournemouth attacker and Ederson dealt with it easily.
City’s first dangerous moment came from Kovacic, his blast from outside the box trickling just wide, and then De Bruyne’s marvelous pass set Nunes up for a one-on-one with Kepa, forcing a brilliant moment from the Bournemouth ‘keeper.
However, there was nothing Kepa could do to save his team in the 14th minute, as his defender backed up slowly and allowed Marmoush plenty of space between the middle of the pitch and their box. The Egyptian eventually took the opportunity and fired a rocket straight into the top corner to send City ahead.
Haaland almost scored another goal eight minutes later, producing some acrobatics to try and place a De Bruyne cross into the net, and then De Bruyne produced one of the worst misses of the Premier League season, hitting the crossbar of a gaping goal from two or three yards as Marmoush hit a low cross across the six-yard box. City were almost punished for that in the 33rd minute, when Tavernier made a run down the left and squared it in for Evanilson, whose effort at full pace hit the post.
But five minutes later, the hosts corrected their mistakes as a trademark-City attacking move resulted in Gundogan wonderfully setting up Bernardo Silva to score from close range.
In the final minute of the first half, Kepa showed his quality again by making a double save to deny awkward long-range shots from De Bruyne and Gundogan. Bournemouth had the final chance before the break, but Kluivert couldn’t keep his shot from inside the box low enough.
Nunes and De Bruyne threatened again early in the second half, as did Brooks and Semenyo at the other end, and Marmoush had another go from distance, not as accurate as the one in the 14th minute.
But in the 67th minute, things threatened to change significantly when Evanilson got in behind Kovacic and the Croatia international applied a slight pull from behind. It was enough to bring the Bournemouth striker down as the last man in front of Ederson, and referee Thomas Bramall did not hesitate as his hand went to the back pocket to flash out the red card.
But the controversies of that particular moment were briefly forgotten two minutes later, as City substitute Nico Gonzalez stepped towards the touchline and the home fans rose to applaud the departing Kevin De Bruyne, whose final appearance at the Etihad thus came to its end.
The Cherries will have surely seen their chance to get back into the contest, being a man up, but Cook soon dashed those hopes with a flying tackle that caught Gonzalez on the ankle and warranted another straight red card.
Minute 83 produced yet another emotional moment for the home crowd. In a bid to establish more control over the flow of the game, Guardiola withdrew Haaland from the game – the time for Rodri to make his return from a season-wrecking ACL injury had come.
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Bournemouth were still spending more time in the opposition half than before, and they almost got punished in the 87th minute when Marmoush dashed in behind their defence and caught Kepa out, but instead of going for goal, the City attacker chose to try and get the Bournemouth ‘keeper sent off. Kepa was aware of his intention, as was Bramall, and no foul was given as Marmoush bumped into Kepa, lost speed and allowed Zabarnyi to collect the ball calmly.
But two minutes later, a similar situation arose as Nunes released Gonzalez. The pass took three defenders out of the game, and the substitute midfielder charged goalwards before firing past Kepa to score City’s third goal.
And in the sixth and final minute of stoppage time, Nunes turned from assisting a teammate to assisting an opponent. His back-pass towards Dias was intercepted by Daniel Jebbison, and though he tried, there was nothing Ederson could do to prevent the Bournemouth substitute striker from getting a goal back.
But it was obviously far too late for anything to impact the outcome of the match.
Kevin De Bruyne – The end of an era
The evening ultimately belonged to City captain Kevin De Bruyne, who played an emotional farewell match at the Etihad Stadium after a glittering 10-year spell with the Sky-Blues. He now joins the ranks of club legends honored with a mural, alongside Yaya Toure, Joe Hart, David Silva, Vincent Kompany, Sergio Aguero, Fernandinho, and Ilkay Gundogan.
However, the Belgian endured a glaring miss in the first half, smashing Marmoush’s cross off the underside of the bar from close range and then clutching his head in disbelief.
“I said I just have to be there, it’s going to come,” De Bruyne said about the miss. “It’s terrible. There’s no excuses. My son is going to be very tough on me today.”
De Bruyne embraced his teammates as he exited in the 69th minute to a standing ovation, and stayed on the pitch to celebrate and wave farewell while a tribute video to “King Kev” played around the stadium.
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Since arriving in 2015, De Bruyne has collected 16 trophies with City, including six Premier League titles and the 2023 Champions League crown. In 421 matches for the club in all competitions, he’s scored a total of 108 goals and produced a whopping 177 assists.
Hailed as one of the Premier League’s greatest-ever midfielders, the Belgian was instrumental in City’s dominance under Guardiola, though recent seasons have been marred by injuries. Still, the 33-year-old confessed to being surprised over not receiving a new deal from City and believes he can continue playing in the Premier League.
De Bruyne being a boyhood Liverpool fan, links with the club that recently took City’s crown in the Premier League are hardly surprising, but in all honesty, it wouldn’t make much sense for Liverpool to make that move. The Merseysiders are already facing the prospect of needing to replace Mohamed Salah and Virgil van Dijk relatively soon, and the last thing they need is another star in the twilight of his career.
Red cards – Difficult but correct decisions
Neither City nor Bournemouth will have found any objective reasons to complain over the red cards awarded to Kovacic and Cook, though both decisions may seem a bit harsh at first glance.
Kovacic didn’t exactly bring Evanilson down – the Bournemouth striker went down pretty easily and probably could’ve stayed on his feet, continued his run and maybe even scored. However, the pull on his arm from behind by the City midfielder was there, clear for everyone to see. It’s a foul by the last man which denied an obvious goalscoring opportunity – therefore, a red card. Once Bramall blew his whistle, there was no course for him to take other than to send Kovacic off.
As for Cook’s challenge on Gonzalez, his foot did reach the ball first, but the follow-through made studs-to-ankle contact, and it was a lunging tackle with excessive force which could’ve left his opponent injured. The elements for serious foul play were there, and as with Kovacic, Bramall’s call was absolutely correct.
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Table implications
This game meant very little for Bournemouth. Sitting 11th with 53 points, the Cherries had no hope of qualifying for Europe and for them, the defeat won’t have made any impact.
On the other hand, it was a crucial triumph for City, who have now broken past Newcastle to take the third place ahead of the final round and all but secured qualification for the Champions League. They need a point away to Fulham in the final round to be safe, though a defeat would leave the door open for Newcastle, Chelsea and Aston Villa, all of whom are just two points behind, to overtake them and push them out.
Newcastle host Everton, Chelsea travel to Nottingham Forest, and Aston Villa play away to Europa League finalists Manchester United who, like Everton, won’t have much to play for on Sunday. But Forest do, sitting seventh with just a point less than the three teams ahead and still harbouring faint Champions League hopes themselves.
Despite the title and the relegation being long settled, the final day of the Premier League season will be an exciting one.
