Two goals towards the end secured Manchester United a hugely sweet victory against their neighbours Manchester City in the English Premier League today. City’s side have won just one of their last seven league games.
The excitement started as soon as the line-ups were revealed before the match, when it was revealed that neither Marcus Rashford nor Alejandro Garnacho were in the Manchester United squad. Ruben Amorim said that he weighed all possible factors when selecting players for matches and that the decision to leave those clubs behind had been his decision.
When the game itself started, however, there was little fun to begin with. Both teams played cautiously and there was little to no open chances. Manchester United didn’t have a real goal attempt throughout the first half and the home crowd at Manchester City were not much better.
City take the lead
In the 36th minute, however, Josko Gvardiol managed to put City 1-0 up when he scored with a header after a pass from Kevin De Bruyne. There was a bit of a stroke of luck over the goal as De Bruyne’s pass went off a defender and scrambled over the United defenders and fell straight on Gvardiol’s head.
Immediately after the goal, things boiled over between Kyle Walker and Rasmus Hojlund. Walker then fouled the Dane, who was anything but satisfied and ran towards the English international. They stuck their noses together for a short while before Walker threw himself to the ground with great effort.
Referee Anthony Taylor gave both players yellow cards and it’s safe to say that Walker has received a barrage of negative reactions on social media for the acting he showed.
The score at halftime was 1-0 and the first minutes of the second half were just as quiet as most of the first half. In the 62nd minute, Manchester United finally managed to threaten the home goal when Ederson had to do his utmost to defend Amad Diallo’s header.
The visitors to United played better in the second half than the first. In the 74th minute, Bruno Fernandes then got the long-awaited set-piece. He got alone against Ederson after a good pass from Höjlund but flicked the ball past the goal.
Incredible turnaround
Ten minutes later, however, City player Matheus Nunes was guilty of a terrible mistake. Amad Diallo got in on his pass back to Ederson, the chance seemed to be slipping into the sand, but then Nunes came sprinting back and clumsily fouled Diallo and a penalty was awarded. Bruno Fernandes scored safely from the penalty spot and the score was 1-1.
Manchester City’s crisis then crystallized two minutes later when Amad Diallo received a pass inside City’s defence. He went past Ederson who was on a forest trip and managed to get the ball into the net through the gap of Gvardiol who couldn’t clear it. Diallo crowned his excellent second half, but he was United’s best man in the game.
The incredible scenes and holes of Manchester City and Pep Guardiola do nothing but deepen. City’s team tried everything they could to create chances to equalise but failed.
A final tally of 2-1 for Manchester United, who lift themselves up to 12th place in the league with the win, while Manchester City remain in 5th place and nine points behind top team Liverpool, who have a game to play.
