Man City comeback vs. United exposed chasm in class between rivals

MANCHESTER, England — By the end, the 192nd Manchester derby had given a good idea of ​​the location of the city's two biggest clubs.

Manchester City, dominating much of the afternoon at the Etihad Stadium, won 3-1 to stay in the hunt for a record fourth consecutive Premier League title. Manchester United manager Erik ten Hag, meanwhile, decided that the only way his team could compete with their neighbors was to defend fiercely and hope for the best, but they still lost comfortably.

Pep Guardiola's side, who trailed behind a wonder strike from Marcus Rashford, finally showed just how good they were while United showed exactly how much ground they had left to make up. United's new investor Sir Jim Ratcliffe says he wants to knock City 'off their perch', but on this evidence that won't happen any time soon. City are a point behind leaders Liverpool and travel to Anfield next, and there is every chance they will return there in May.

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Ten Hag then insisted the game was closer than it appeared, but even the most ardent United fan would have found his assessment hard to swallow after another derby disappointment.

“No, I do not think so [the result shows a big gap between the teams]absolutely not,” Ten Hag said after the match. “You can see we have a lot of injury problems and we still had an opportunity [to win].

“Really small margins. We could have scored the second goal in a questionable moment. It's not that big. [of a gap] and when everyone is on board, we can be competitive. I also think we showed it in the cup final against them. [last season] when it was really close but City are, at the moment, the best team in the world. Don’t forget that.”

Ten Hag pointed to a long injury list including Rasmus Højlund, Lisandro Martínez and Luke Shaw as the main reason he had to line up with Bruno Fernandes and Scott McTominay posing as strikers, but even against a team determined to cut back gaps and break quickly. , City had streets ahead.

They went into half-time 1-0 up thanks to Rashford's rocket which exploded under the bar, but City's 203 passes in the final third, compared to United's meager 17, provided a better reflection of how including the first 45 minutes. went. City had to wait for two goals in the final 10 minutes to be sure of victory, but it is telling that they finished the match with 27 shots on goal. United managed three.

“Football is not just about possession,” Ten Hag then argued. “We scored a brilliant goal, but after that we had even more chances in the first 20 minutes. I think we defended brilliantly without possession and the decisive moments were not on our side. We were very close to getting a victory or at least a match. draw here.”

However, to almost everyone in the stadium, there seemed to be a gulf between the teams. City, however, have not had things their way this season and for the 12th time in the Premier League, they had to react after conceding the opening goal. Only Liverpool recovered more than their 21 points after losing positions.

There was a point where Guardiola became so frustrated that he made a point of telling the ball boy near the benches that he needed to get the ball back faster. But despite all the chaos and tension of a derby, his team remained patient and it paid off.

Foden, the best player on the pitch, scored after 56 minutes, then again after 80. Erling Haaland, who missed a golden opportunity from close range in the first half, wrapped up the points in stoppage time after that substitute Sofyan Amrabat gave the ball away. to Rodri. The result did not flatter City and Guardiola thought his team should have scored more.

City have now won three consecutive home derbies, their longest run since 1955, winning the matches by an aggregate score of 13-5. After a hat-trick in his match last season, Foden scored five.

“He is at the moment, this season, one of the best [in the Premier League]”, Guardiola said. “I always had the feeling he would score goals. Now he wins matches. To become a world-class player, you must win matches. He has an incredible work ethic, he lives to play football and now he’s winning games.”

For City, it was the perfect way to start a tough run of matches, with matches against title challengers Liverpool and Arsenal before the end of March. Following their Champions League last-16 second leg against FC Copenhagen on Wednesday, they travel to Anfield next week, although Guardiola immediately dismissed the idea of ​​the match being a title decider.

“There are still a lot of points to play for and different places to play for the three or four contenders to win the Premier League,” he said.

City are looking for another title while United are once again looking for answers on how to close the gap.