Manchester: ‘Manchester is red’, VAR controversy and 3 goals in second half these were the topics of the thrilling derby clash held in Old Trafford, where Manchester united got better of their Neighbours. Before the kick-off questions were asked whether Manchester United’s sloppy defense can stop the riot of Manchester City, both teams were confidence of their team and seeing October’s 6-3 win against Manchester United surely would give City some kinds of hope but this time Manchester United turned the tables against Manchester City and did something unexpected, even the football pundits were predicting the match to go against Manchester United.
Erik Ten Haq, Manager of Man Utd went with two strikers Anthony Martial, Marcus Rashford and placed two defensive midfielders (Casemiro and Fred) with attacking midfielders (captain Bruno Fernandes and Christian Eriksen), he went against putting Lizandro Martinez, Victor Lindeloff and Harry Maguire instead he deployed Luke Shaw as Center-Back along with Frenchman Raphael Varane with formation of 4-2-3. Pep Guardiola, Manager of Man city went with 4-3-3 formation with Phil Foden, Erling Haaland and Riyad Mahrez as the strikers, interestingly in full 90 minutes game, Pep only use one substitute with Phil Foden replaced by Jack Grealish, who broke the deadlocks by scoring against United in 60th minute. Eighteen minutes after the lead, Manchester United response with Bruno’s powerful shot and levelled the scoreline with 1-1 in seventy-eight minutes and finally Rashford with a thrilling goal in 1vs1 clash got better of City Goalkeeper Ederson Moraes and fulfilled home fans dream of defeating Manchester City by 2-1 in 190th Derby between the two arch-rivals.
There was also an offside controversy which rose with Bruno Fernandes goal, as earlier Rashford who was in offside position, but he didn’t kick the ball and left for Bruno who scored as United players and the fans were cheering there was VAR check which stood with the goal. Although City players were protesting that it was an offside, the referee denied it only to City’s frustration of conceding goal. At the end of the game the question revolved around Manchester, was the goal offside or not? With this win Manchester United has made themselves available for the title challenge with 38pts from 18 games played whereas this loss has put Manchester City in a position from where they can’t lose anymore game with regards to Arsenal, who are sitting particularly well on top with 8 points lead over latter. Manchester United are now on the same points with Newcastle and 1 point behind second place Manchester City and 9 points behind the leaders Arsenal.
Manchester United’s next game is against Crystal Palace in a rearranged clash which is to be held on 19th January in Selhurst Park, where Manchester city will have a task to cut out against Spurs on 20th January at home.
