Manchester derby in recent years has become one of the most competitive matches in the footballing circuit, especially in England. There is a great hype created around this match all week long, and the same energy is transferred onto the field into the players, who fight it out for bragging rights in the city of Manchester. This week was going to be no different than the ones before them, considering the contrasting forms of the two teams coming into the match.
Manchester United, the match host, was back on form after suffering a thrashing from Liverpool. They had produced a thumping victory against Tottenham in their last premier league encounter. Following it up with the draw against Atalanta, in which they came back from 2-1 down to level the match in the 90+ minutes, United was the hot favorite to win the game.
Manchester City, on the other hand, had mixed results from the past week at their back. They suffered a humiliating 2-0 defeat against Crystal Palace in the last premier league game. But in the midweek clash against Club Brugge, they won with a margin of 4-1. However, they remained underdogs in this fixture, considering their previous outings against Manchester United. At the start of the game, the Red devil’s Manager was the only Manager in the Premier League who had won more matches (4) against Pep Guardiola than he had lost (3).
The match, however, turned out to be a completely different story. Right from the kickoff, Manchester city looked like the better side. Their passes had more purpose, and they dictated the possession, especially in United’s half. As a result, United choked under pressure and conceded the first goal in the 7th minute of the game. If conceding was not bad enough, it was an own goal by Eric Bailly, who was trying to stop across. Instead of clearing it out, he slashed it into his own net.
💪💪💪
🔴 0-1 🔵 #ManCity pic.twitter.com/SvDOoKbfYx
— Manchester City (@ManCity) November 6, 2021
United’s morals took a dip from there onwards, and City kept coming at them. However, David De Gea stood up to the task and denied City three clear scoring chances. Such was the barrage of attacks by the men in blue that De Gea’s resistance too was broken in the final minutes of the first half, and he conceded the game’s second goal. This time, Bernardo Silva made a great stretch to reach a ball that both Luke Shaw and De Gea thought was going out. For a fraction of a moment, both the defender and Goalkeeper were caught napping, and the Portuguese midfielder in blues tapped it home in the 45+ minutes of the game. At the half-time, City led United by 2-0.
THIS GUY!!!
🔴 0-2 🔵 #ManCity pic.twitter.com/NxUA0r0JlP
— Manchester City (@ManCity) November 6, 2021
The second half was a little more proactive by Manchester United. They switched some personal around to bring their star signing, Jadon Sancho, into the midst of things. Things still didn’t change for them, though, as they couldn’t manage to breach the City defense to draw out a save from Ederson. Towards the end of the half, even Manchester City couldn’t find the back of the net, despite coming agonizingly close of doing so on several occasions. With neither team scoring in the second half, the match ended at 2-0.
Taking 3 points from this game, Manchester City climbed up to the second position in the group with 23 points against their name.
FULL TIME | DERBY DAY DELIGHT! 🙌
🔴 0-2 🔵 #ManCity pic.twitter.com/qjLAT02897
— Manchester City (@ManCity) November 6, 2021
