Kevin De Bruyne only played 21 minutes for Manchester City against Newcastle United, but produced a performance good enough to earn a place in Alan Shearer’s Premier League Team of the Week.
City beat the Magpies 3-2 just over a week ago now, the only half the teams in action across each of the last two weekends.
De Bruyne made headlines after he came off the bench and turned the game on its head at St. James’ Park with a sublime cameo.
The Belgian maestro first scored brilliant equaliser, slotting the ball through Fabian Schar’s legs and into the bottom corner from outside the box.
He then supplied Oscar Bobb with a glorious pass for the Norwegian to score a late winner.
His efforts were lapped up by Premier League legend Alan Shearer…
Alan Shearer totally blown away by Kevin De Bruyne’s display for Man City against Newcastle
With the rest of the teams having played their games at the weekend, Shearer has now picked his latest Team of the Week.
De Bruyne is the only representative from City, despite only playing for 21 minutes.
Wowed by the way he turned things around for City, Shearer said (via premierleague.com): “Twenty-one minutes of genius is all De Bruyne needed to drag his side to a win, with a wonderful goal and assist.”
It was the second appearance De Bruyne has made for City since coming back from his hamstring injury, the first being against Huddersfield Town in the FA Cup.
City’s next game is against Tottenham Hotspur in the FA Cup fourth round on Friday and it remains to be seen how much De Bruyne will feature.
Pep Guardiola may be tempted to start the 32-year-old and perhaps take him off in the second-half to continue building his minutes.
De Bruyne return is very ominous for City’s PL rivals
What a display it was from De Bruyne, who was described as ‘a special player’ recently by Cesc Fabregas.
To produce such a display on only his second appearance back after injury was nothing short of amazing, and his return is so ominous for City’s title rivals.
His ability to come in clutch and pull City out of the mud will be absolutely colossal for the team in the second half of the season.
Between him and Erling Haaland returning, City are in a great spot to attack all three competitions in the coming months.
