'I want to go away with a Champions League place' - Kevin De Bruyne reveals motivation behind majestic performance in thrilling win over Crystal Palace

Crystal Palace took a two-goal lead within the first 21 minutes of the match through Eberechi Eze and Chris Richards' strikes. De Bruyne then pulled one back for the Cityzens from a free-kick before heading the ball towards Omar Marmoush, who scored the equaliser. Shortly after the break, the Belgian midfielder contributed with an assist for Mateo Kovacic's strike, which put City in front for the first time in the game. Youngsters James McAtee and Nico O’Reilly then added two more goals to the team's tally as they secured a thumping 5-2 win.

De Bruyne, who is all set to leave City at the end of the 2024-25 campaign, revealed after the match that he wants to see his club finish among the top five teams in the Premier League and secure a Champions League slot for next season. With the three points on Saturday, the champions have now leapfrogged Chelsea to move up to fourth in the league table with 55 points from 32 matches.

Speaking to reporters, the 33-year-old said: "I want to go away with a Champions League place for this team because they deserve it. 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."

He added: "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. 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.

"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."

Pep Guardiola's side will be back in action in the Premier League next Saturday as they visit Goodison Park to face Everton in another important encounter.