Guardiola made an unexpected decision and found the solution for Manchester City

Newcastle and Manchester City were the protagonists of one of the best matches of this weekend. They faced each other this Saturday at St. James' Park for the 21st round of the Premier League, in a game that was decisive for both. The hosts are not performing well in the 2023/24 season and needed to win to get closer to the qualification zone for international tournaments, while the visitors were aiming to reduce the gap to the leaders Liverpool.

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So both teams gave their best to get a win and put on a great show. The Citizens were superior for most of the first half and scored the opener through Bernardo Silva, who after 26 minutes received a drilled cross from Kyle Walker and netted with a beautiful backheel shot.

However, in just a few minutes everything changed. The Magpies found the leveller after 35 minutes, when Alexander Isak scored with a right-footed shot that made impossible the save of goalkeeper Stefan Ortega, who had entered at the beginning of the match for Ederson. And a few moments later Anthony Gordon did something very similar and completed the comeback.

With this scenario, things looked very difficult for Manchester City. But Pep Guardiola made a change that was decisive for the future of the match: 23 minutes into the second half, the Spanish coach surprisingly took off Bernardo Silva and included Kevin De Bruyne in his place. The Belgian midfielder had barely played a few minutes vs Huddersfield last week, after almost four months since his surgery. And he changed everything: after 31 minutes he scored the leveller and in stoppage time assisted Oscar Bobb, who grabbed the winner.

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Now they will have time to rest

With the 3-2 victory against Newcastle, Manchester City are only 2 points behind Liverpool in the standings. Now they will have more than two weeks until the next Premier League match, which will be on January 31 against Burnley. That is why they will travel to Abu Dhabi, the capital of the United Arab Emirates, where they will train for a few days taking advantage of the pleasant temperatures of that area.