As Pep Guardiola has been openly saying for some time now, this had to happen at some point, but how he and his Manchester City players must wish that the inevitable had not arrived on derby day. – By Madellene Markit.
Victory in the derby will be exciting for Man Utd as it ends City’s 21 consecutive wins, not to mention their 28-game unbeaten run.
Manchester United won thanks to an early penalty from Bruno Fernandes and a second-half strike from Luke Shaw with the result narrowing Manchester City’s lead at the top of the table to 11 points.
Solskjaer is starting to become something of a nemesis for Guardiola as this was the Norwegian’s fourth derby victory since he took over at Old Trafford in December 2018.
City were stunned after 34 seconds when referee Anthony Taylor pointed to the penalty spot after Gabriel Jesus had brought down Anthony Martial just inside the box.
Solskjaer had this to say, “We just take one game at a time; City are too far ahead for us to think we can catch them. Last year we caught 15 points up on Leicester, but City are a different proposition.”
“Even today they put us under so much pressure you could see we were playing against a very good team. When you come away with a 2-0 win and another clean sheet and a performance like this then you are delighted.”
Man City’s Guardiola said, “We will be the news because we lost. But the news is 21 victories in a row. There are still 30 points to play and we have to start to win again.”
“That’s football. Sometimes it happens. We played much better than the game against West Ham which we won. It’s always the same. We win a game and then move onto the next one. It’s the same here. We lose this so we go to the next one. It’s a lesson. Even at 0-2 we played really well.”
The Red Devils will have to be at their best next Thursday as they host AC Milan in the Europa League round of 16.
