Kevin De Bruyne is expected to make his 422nd and final appearance for Manchester City when they face Fulham at Craven Cottage in the Premier League on Sunday afternoon.
The 33-year-old announced last month that he will be bringing the curtain down on a glittering 10-year career as a Citizens player when his contract expires at the end of the season.
De Bruyne bid an emotional farewell to Man City supporters after making his final Etihad appearance in a 3-1 victory over Bournemouth on Tuesday night.
The Belgium international surprisingly missed a sitter in the first half and was unable to add to the 108 goals he has scored for Man City since he joined the club in the summer of 2015, but he will get one final opportunity to make the net ripple against Fulham this weekend.
De Bruyne has built a reputation as being one of the best playmakers in world football, but he has also scored a plethora of impressive and important goals as a Citizens star over the years.
Here, Sports Mole takes a look at five memorable goals scored by De Bruyne during his time at Man City.
Man City 1-0 Paris Saint-Germain | Champions League | April 2016
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Under the tutelage of Manuel Pellegrini, Man City signed De Bruyne for a reported £54m in from Wolfsburg after he was crowned Bundesliga Player of the Year.
It did not take long for De Bruyne to establish himself as a first-team regular and he made his presence felt across a two-legged Champions League quarter-final tie with French giants Paris Saint-Germain.
After opening the scoring in a 2-2 first-leg draw at the Parc des Princes, De Bruyne stepped up to make the difference in a tight second-leg affair at the Etihad, curling a beautiful match-winning finish from outside the penalty area into the bottom corner 14 minutes from time – a superb strike that sealed a 3-2 aggregate win and fired Man City in the Champions League semi-finals for the first time in their history.
At that stage of the 2015-16 season, De Bruyne had a hand in 27 goals across all competitions for the Citizens (15 goals, 12 assists) which was a joint-high for the club alongside Sergio Aguero.
Chelsea 0-1 Man City | Premier League | September 2017
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De Bruyne believes that “one of the most important goals” he has scored for Man City was against his former club Chelsea at the beginning of the 2017-18 season in which he went on to win his first Premier League title along with manager Pep Guardiola.
Chelsea were the defending champions, but they dropped points in two of their opening three home league fixtures, while Man City travelled to Stamford Bridge in buoyant mood having won five and drawn one of their opening six matches.
De Bruyne, a central figure in Guardiola’s team, was unable to get his name on the scoresheet during this run, but he opened his account for the campaign in prolific fashion against Chelsea, striking a sweet left-footed shot beyond Belgian compatriot Thibaut Courtois to seal a slender 1-0 victory, one that gave the Citizens belief to lift the title that season.
Newcastle United 2-2 Man City | Premier League | November 2019
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Man City may not have won the Premier League title in 2019-20, but it was still a memorable season for De Bruyne in more ways than one.
Not only did he register a joint all-time record 20 Premier League assists to win the Playmaker of the Year award, but he also won the PL Goal of the Month and Man City’s Goal of the Season awards for a thunderous strike against Newcastle.
There is not much better in football than a sweetly-struck half-volley from outside the area firing in off the crossbar; De Bruyne did exactly that to reinforce his status as one of the division’s most technically gifted players.
Unfortunately for De Bruyne and City, that 82nd-minute strike was cancelled out just six minutes later by a long-range effort from Magpies midfielder Jonjo Shelvey.
Man City 4-1 Arsenal | Premier League | April 2023
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After regularly battling Liverpool for top spot in the Premier League, Man City were pushed all the way by Mikel Arteta‘s Arsenal in the hunt for a third successive title in 2022-23.
De Bruyne proved once again that he relishes stepping up for the big occasion when he starred in both home and away encounters versus the Gunners, scoring a superb lob in a 3-1 win at the Emirates Stadium on a night when the title momentum shifted in City favour.
A couple of months later, De Bruyne produced a man-of-the-match display in the reverse fixture, scoring twice as Guardiola’s side delivered a masterclass to overwhelm the Gunners with a statement 4-1 home victory.
The Etihad erupted when De Bruyne netted a memorable, silky opener inside seven minutes, powerfully driving at Arsenal’s backline before slotting a 20-yard shot into the bottom corner – a moment that has since been regularly watched over and over again by Citizens supporters.
Man City’s second came on the stroke of half time from a cushioned De Bruyne free-kick that was nodded home by John Stones, before City’s No.17 added a third after the break with a composed side-footed finish to put the Citizens firmly in control.
Real Madrid 1-1 Man City | Champions League | May 2023
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De Bruyne stepped up once again just a month later, this time in the Champions League semi-finals against perennial European winners Real Madrid at the Santiago Bernabeu.
This closely-contested battle was one of two rockets; Vinicius Junior fired Los Blancos in front with a 25-yard thunderbolt towards the end of the first half, and it looks as if City would struggle to surpress the Spanish hosts.
However, just as Real Madrid began to dominate proceedings in the second half, City restored parity through De Bruyne, who fizzed a first-time right-footed shot from outside the area into the bottom corner – the Belgian’s celebration was an emotional one as he fell to his knees in front of the jubilant City away support.
The spoils were shared in Spain before Man City overpowered Real Madrid with a magnificent 4-0 second-leg victory en route to winning their first-ever Champions League trophy, beating Inter Milan in the final, and completing a historic treble.
