Fulham 0-2 Manchester City: De Bruyne bids farewell to English football as City finally secure Champions League qualification | OneFootball

Manchester City finally secured qualification for next season’s UEFA Champions League with a 2-0 win over Fulham at Craven Cottage.

Ilkay Gündoğan opened the scoring with an acrobatic finish in the 21st minute, and a host of missed chances from both sides ensured the lead was only slender come the second half.

It took until the final 20 minutes for City to wrap the win up, with Gündoğan involved again, this time fouled in the area to gift Erling Haaland a penalty. The Norwegian slid his 22nd goal of the season into the bottom corner, wrapping up third place for Manchester City – though this felt small in comparison to the broader effects of a season situated in between the old guard and the new of English football.

As it happened

It was only in the 72nd minute that Manchester City could finally breathe a sigh of relief. It was only then, after the helping hand of a penalty awarded by referee Andy Madley, that they were able to double their lead at Craven Cottage after 18 shots and countless wasted attacking positions failed to do so alone. Only then did they know that their cloud of a season which had included 16 defeats, a non-existent title charge and a defeat in the FA Cup final would finally have the silver lining of Champions League qualification.

They spent the season making it difficult for themselves. Losses at crucial moments against Aston Villa, Arsenal, Liverpool and Nottingham Forest meant nothing could be guaranteed until the final day, this their 15th consecutive qualification for Europe’s premier club competition and their most hair-raising too.

That was a theme they extended to their crunch-tie against Fulham. For every foray into the hosts’ penalty area, The Cottagers offered a goal-threat of their own, whether it be Harry Wilson’s snapshot in the 27th minute to which Ederson was made to react in a flash, or Adama Traoré racing in behind a vacant City backline before being scuppered by his own poor touch, or when Tom Cairney nearly christened what may well be his final Craven Cottage outing with a strike which bent agonisingly wide of the far corner.

Pep Guardiola’s side had most of the ball, as ever. They had more shots than their opponents, as ever. But they were seldom comfortable, as has ever been the case this season.

Still, they were the side who took the lead after 20 minutes. Omar Marmoush and Matheus Nunes played a give-and-go which sent the Portuguese through on goal. His attempted chip was diverted back into the six-yard box by Bernd Leno, where Gündoğan was waiting back to goal, forced to improvise with an acrobatic overhead kick which flew into the goal via the crossbar.

Later in the half, both sides passed up yet more big chances; Jérémy Doku’s pinpoint ball into the box set up Marmoush in the 41st minute before his shot was blocked and recycled to Nico, who rather passed the ball into the arms of Leno. At the other end, Wilson forced Ederson to parry the ball into the box, where Andreas Pereira was lurking, ready to snatch horribly at his shot and cannon the ball against the side netting, albeit from an awkward angle.

Throughout the second half, City’s openness at the back remained the only constant, particularly when Ederson raced out of his goal to meet a long ball that was never destined for his grasp. Raúl Jiménez looked to lob it up and over him, instead sending it high and wide of the goal altogether.

But the fans in the stadium were preoccupied. Chants of ‘Oh, Kevin De Bruyne’ drowned out the action on the pitch, City’s travelling fans desperate to see their icon one last time after his Etihad farewell on Tuesday. Their wish would be granted, but not before Haaland converted that penalty which secured his side’s immediate European future after Gündoğan was wiped out by Saša Lukić.

So, De Bruyne was introduced, an icon of the Premier League taking what were almost certainly his final touches in the competition, his future lying in either Chicago or Naples barring any twists to the tale. In his last game at the Etihad Stadium, he was serenaded by 50,000 fans who waited 40 minutes after fulltime to say their goodbyes. At Craven Cottage, his send-off was more subdued, more subtle, a round of applause from the Fulham faithful enough to signify his importance to a league he’s dominated for over 400 games.

There were goodbyes for the hosts, too; Cairney left the field with visible emotion in what may have been his final game for the club he’s represented for over a decade.

That sentimentality was all that mattered for Fulham; this result meant precious little, their European dream ended only slightly more recently than the confirmation of their survival. As for City, they would have qualified for the Champions League regardless of their result today, with Newcastle United and Aston Villa both falling short against Everton and Manchester United. But, they weren’t to know that, Haaland’s penalty therefore meaning almost everything to a side who have failed to lift a trophy for the first time in eight years.

Almost everything. In the end, the result at Craven Cottage was less important than what it signified; for City, it’s the passing of the torch from the old guard to the new. De Bruyne is just the golden tip of the iceberg for a club whose playing staff is set for a real shake up. For the Premier League, it’s a farewell to one of its greats, qualification for the Champions League a final parting gift from the man they call King Kev.

The lineups

FUL: Leno; Tete, Andersen, Cuenca, Robinson; Cairney, Lukić; Traoré, Pereira, Wilson; Jiménez