Manchester City 5-2 Crystal Palace: Kevin de Bruyne leads comeback win

At most, De Bruyne will lead City into battle three more times in this arena.

Over the past decade he has produced so many sublime moments and provided memories that will last a lifetime.

But it had been a while since he had done anything significant, and when City’s form slumped a third of the way through the season, De Bruyne could do nothing to arrest the slide.

On this occasion, he simply was not willing to let the day end badly.

Questions might be asked of the wall Dean Henderson constructed for De Bruyne’s free-kick. Still, it requires elite ability to send the ball into the net off the inside of the post. The margin for error was non-existent.

A flaw in data that allocates assists means Ilkay Gundogan is credited with the assist for Marmoush’s equaliser. But that is only because the German midfielder could not get a proper connection on De Bruyne’s knock-back, which bounced through to Marmoush to crash home from close range.

De Bruyne definitely provided the assist for Kovacic to put the home side ahead a minute into the second half though.

With his back to goal inside the Palace box, the Belgian calmly controlled O’Reilly’s cross before rolling the ball into Kovacic’s path. It was not quite Pele to Carlos Alberto from the 1970 World Cup final, but it needed the same ability to keep a clear head in a maelstrom – and the finish was equally emphatic.

Marmoush should have had another when De Bruyne rolled a low cross into his path after an hour. This time the Egyptian was denied by Henderson.

By the time Pep Guardiola took his captain off, offering him the warmest of hugs when he reached the touchline, City were clear and the three points were secure.

The standing ovation from the home support was fully deserved, as was the warm reception he received as the City players walked round the ground in response to their backing after the final whistle. Those supporters are running out of chances of acknowledge De Bruyne’s genius.