Kevin de Bruyne admits he 'missed' being on the pitch

Kevin de Bruyne sent a ‘crazy’ message to the Premier League on a breathtaking comeback from five months injured as Oscar Bobb’s last-gasp winner sent Manchester City second.

Bobb stepped off the bench to nick his first league goal and City’s third of a pulsating 3-2 victory over Newcastle United at St James’ Park.

But the night belonged to De Bruyne, whose 21-minute cameo – equalising and then assisting Bobb’s winner – showed exactly what Pep Guardiola has been missing all season.

‘I missed this,’ De Bruyne said. ‘I enjoyed myself. I think it was more willpower than anything else. It was crazy. I know I'm not able to do that for 90 minutes at the moment.

‘I can put in a shift for 30 minutes at the moment. I feel it in my lungs, especially with the cold.’

De Bruyne lauded the mature darting run of Bobb, preferred to Jack Grealish, as City went two points behind leaders Liverpool after 20 matches. Grealish is still suffering from a virus that saw him miss training through the week.

Guardiola thought that De Bruyne was going to alter the course of the game with his very first touch as he stood over a dead ball just outside the Newcastle box.

‘I am so disappointed in him and upset and grumpy because he didn’t score with the free kick,’ the City boss joked.

‘He is a legend, he is loved by our people and hopefully in the last months he can help us be there to the end.

‘The way we play is quite similar without him but to win games we need players like Kevin or Erling [Haaland].

‘After eight years together we know exactly what we have to do, he sees something special in the final third. That is not tactical but talent.’

Guardiola confirmed that City had refused to rush back their talisman, whose rehabilitation from hamstring surgery