Mourinho
benched Mata, and surprisingly Rashford and started Lingard in the
English youngster's place. Guardiola opted to start Kelechi Iheanacho
for the suspended Aguero. Man City started with much more possession and
passes and got their reward in the 15th minute as a headed pass from
Iheanacho found Kevin De Bruyne who made Daley Blind look like an
amateur defender as he left him in his wake and then slotted the ball
into the bottom left corner.
Man U 0- 1 Man City.
Mkhitaryan
was flagged for offside as he chased the ball through the centre. He
didn’t hear the whistle,and went down under a challenge from Claudio
Bravo to appeal for a penalty, but none was forthcoming. Man U was being
outnumbered in the midfield department and had withdrawn into their own
half at the first 30 minutes. Valencia was targeted as a weakness and
was run ragged. Man City players were dominating, Man U had no answer.
Lingard and Mkhitaryan were lazy, slow and poignant on the ball and
their final thought process was lacking.
Then
in the 36th minute, Man U's old Trafford supporters were
stunned. United’s defenders stood motionless as Kevin De Bruyne picked
up the ball in the penalty area and fired towards the bottom left-hand
corner. The ball hit the foot of the upright and rebounded to Iheanacho
who then slotted into the open net, a goal that might have been ruled as
offside.
Man U 0-2 Man City.
Then in the 42nd minute , the unexpected happened.
Claudio
Bravo Man City's new goalkeeper under pressure from John Stones,
flapped at the ball and it broke to Zlatan Ibrahimovic who volleyed the
ball into the net from a very tight angle. Only a very good footballer
could shoot at first touch and score from such a tight angle. Nice one
Zlat!
Man U 1-2 Man City.
Man U tried to score again and Bravo made another mistake but Ibrahimovic could only play a tame shot directly to the post.
The
second half started with two changes as predicted. Jose Mourinho
introduced Marcus Rashford and Ander Herrera for Mhikitaryan and Lingard
who were sloppy and ineffective in the first half.
Immediately
Rashford swung into action, went through the left wing and gave a pass
to Ibrahimovic which the Swede shot off target.
Man U seemed more confident and it seemed whatever Mourinho told his players at half time worked.
Valencia was charging through the right while Rashford was menacing through the left.
It was now wonderful end to end football, a pleasant spectacle for the neutrals.
Man U attacked and defended , Man City attacked and defended.
De
Gea created wonderful play and sent Rashford gadding down the left
flank with a wonderful pass. His attempt to pick out Ibrahimovic with a
fine cross was cut out by Fernando’s crucial interception.
Mourinho
then introduced Martial for Shaw, Mourinho not wanting to lose this
match took initiative and played with three defenders , with Rashford
now playing centrally alongside Ibrahimovic while Martial played through
the left interchanging at times to the right.
Mourinho wanted
to win this, the legendary Sir Alex Ferguson could be seen nodding his
head in disapproval, he couldn't believe the scoreline.
90
minutes with 5 minutes additional time. Mourinho was here fighting for a
draw, Guardiola could feel a win, he had it in sight.
Counter attacking move- Rashford to Rooney to Valencia to Pogba to Ibrahimovic whose shot was deflected for a corner.
93 minutes- two minutes to go.
United
were on the ascendancy and Rooney decided to launch a free-kick,
Fellaini to Ibrahimovic to Pogba, the keeper Bravo scrambled for the
ball, could this be the last chance, Stones was seen controlling the
defence line.
End! Manchester has been painted in full blue, at least till next year.
Man City have now won four wins in four games, one could say City were worthy winners.
Full time : Man U 1-2 Man City.
Mourinho 0- 1 Guardiola
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