De Bruyne: I want to help City secure a Champions League place before I leave | OneFootball

Kevin De Bruyne says he wants to leave Manchester City having helped the side secure Champions League football.

The City skipper was at his talismanic best in Saturday's crucial 5-2 victory against Crystal Palace in the Premier League, both scoring and setting up an assist for Mateo Kovacic.

It was De Bruyne's first match at the Etihad since his announcement that he was departing the club in the summer and he was once again a massive influence in the game.

After City had gone 2-0 down, through strikes from Eberechi Eze and Chris Richards, the skipper stepped up and dispatched a free-kick to get the hosts back into the match, before heading the ball in Omar Marmoush’s direction who equalised before half-time.

CITY 5-2 CRYSTAL PALACE | MATCH REPORT

He then assisted Kovacic, who swept home to put City into the lead, shortly into the second-half.

Two of our Academy starlets, James McAtee and Nico O’Reilly, put City further ahead to secure a vital three points in the race to secure Champions League qualification for next season.

And speaking after the match, De Bruyne said he wanted to bow out having helping the Club ensure a Champions League place next season.

"I want to go away with a Champions League place for this team because they deserve it," De Bruyne said.

"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."

The Belgian also spoke about how pleased he was with his teammates in the manner of the response after going behind.

"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,” De Bruyne added.

“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.”

In reaction to scoring his important free-kick, De Bruyne added: "I think it was important to score as quickly as possible and change the feeling of the game a bit.

"I didn't think we were playing that bad but the scoreline wasn't good at all. We went from there.”