Manchester City 2-3 Manchester United: Chris Smalling nets winner after Paul Pogba scores quickfire brace to ensure visitors come from two goals behind and delay rivals from winning title
- Vincent Kompany headed home the opening goal for Manchester City in the 25th minute
- Just moments later, Ilkay Gundogan scored a fine goal to put City into dreamland against their bitter rivals
- Paul Pogba pulled one back for the visitors in the 53rd minute, finishing off a fantastic team move
- And just minutes later, France international Pogba equalised with a powerful header past Ederson
- Chris Smalling then netted winner from close range from an Alexis Sanchez free-kick to win game for United
- RECAP: Click here to take a look back at all the action from the Premier League encounter at the Etihad
It merely delays the inevitable but given that they are no longer even the best team in their city, Manchester United will take what they can get for now. Given a chance to seize temporary Mancunian bragging rights, they did so in the most-dramatic fashion.
Indeed, so convoluted was their victory on Saturday at The Etihad, City's first defeat here in the Premier League since 2016, that at times it reminded you of the Manchester City of old.
There they were in full cry, cruising towards a record-breaking title win with games to spare. Two-nil up at half time – it should really have been four – United were plainly embarrassing themselves.
Chris Smalling won the game for Manchester United as they came from two goals down to beat Manchester City 3-2
Smalling taps home the dramatic winner following Alexis Sanchez's free-kick in the 69th minute at the Etihad Stadium
England international Smalling wheels off to celebrate United's third goal of the Manchester derby on Saturday
Pual Pogba shocked the Etihad as he equalised for the visitors in the 55th minute after being 2-0 behind at half-time
Pogba puts his hand to his ear after stunning the Manchester City crowd on Saturday evening with his quickfire brace
The 25-year-old levelled the scoring at 2-2 just two minutes after giving United a lifeline in the Manchester derby
No one saw that coming: Pogba is pictured heading past Brazilian goalkeeper Ederson to level the scoring at the Etihad
PLAYER RATINGS, LEAGUE TABLE AND MATCH ZONE
MANCHESTER CITY XI: Ederson 6, Danilo 6, Kompany 7, Otamendi 6, Delph 6, Gundogan 6.5 (Aguero 76, 6.5), Fernandinho 7, Silva 7.5 (De Bruyne 72, 6.5), Bernardo Silva 6.5 (Jesus 72, 6), Sterling 6.5, Sane 6.5
Subs not used: Bravo, Walker, Laporte, Toure
Manager: Pep Guardiola 6
Goals: Kompany 25, Gundogan 30
Booked: Sterling, Fernandinho, Aguero, Danilo, Kompany, Jesus
MANCHESTER UNITED XI: De Gea 7, Valencia 6, Smalling 6.5, Bailly 6, Young 5, Ander Herrera 6 (Lindelof 90+4), Matic 7, Pogba 8, Lingard 5.5 (McTominay 85), Lukaku 6, Sanchez 7(Rashford 82)
Subs not used: Rojo, Mata, Martial, Joel Pereira
Manager: 6.5
Goals: Pogba 53, 55, Smalling 69
Booked: Herrera, Lukaku, Pogba
Referee: Martin Atkinson
This is how Paul Pogba scored Manchester United's first goal of the game. CLICK HERE to find out more from our MATCH ZONE.
It was pretty awful for Sir Alex Ferguson when Sergio Aguero wrested the title from them with the last kick of the season in 2012. But as he watched the first half from the stands on Saturday, he might have reflected this seemed worse. At least they were in that title race; and they didn't have to witness that defeat surrounded by gleeful City fans.
Pep Guardiola's swaggering team, with a clutch of reserves playing, were weaving their magic and the party was in full swing. Jose Mourinho was reduced to muttering at the fourth official and bemoaning the chasm between then teams.
And yet then Paul Pogba, hair dyed light blue yet otherwise anonymous, took a step forward. The player United thought they had signed, suddenly emerged. His two goals in 97 seconds transformed the game before a lovely volley from Chris Smalling, quite incredibly, won it. It seemed we had been invited to attend a public humiliation. Yet, like Samson tearing down the temple on his tormentors, United managed to turn it into a roar of defiance.
The start was tetchy and aggressive. Ashley Young felled Raheem Sterling. Nemanja Matic was leaving his mark on a few players. Vincent Kompany, the most-experienced man on the pitch, looked nervous, misplacing passes. There was little coherence to the game. It had the frenzy of an old-style Mancunian derby but little of the technique.
Pogba gave United a lifeline, finishing off a brilliant move by the visitors in the 53rd minute on Saturday evening
The £89million man fires home United's opening goal past Ederson to increase the home's sides nerves
Ashley Young was lucky not to give away a penalty with the score at 3-2 after he made contact with Sergio Aguero
The Argentine striker goes down in agony in the penalty area but referee Martin Atkinson waves play on
Tensions heated up near the end of the heavyweight clash between the rivals with United narrowly leading City 3-2
United even looked content early on. After all this was a City side resting Kevin de Bruyne, Kyle Walker, Sergio Aguero, Gabriel Jesus and Aymeric Laporte. The team beaten up at Anfield was only partially present; and the return leg on Tuesday was uppermost in the club's mind. It wasn't close to their best side and, as such, you felt United at full strength should cope.
Yet, notwithstanding their capitulation to Liverpool, in the Premier League City have usually found a way to sparkle, whatever team is picked. So it was on Saturday. City were virtually invited to take control when United conceded an unnecessary corner on 20 minutes.
Leroy Sane lifted the ball in and Kompany, the captain who joined the club just before their transformation at a time when Darius Vassell was among their key attacking players, looked a man possessed as he hunted down the ball. Chris Smalling had hold of his shirt – had Kompany not scored it would have been a guaranteed penalty – but it made little difference. As Smalling forlornly clung to the hem of his garment, Kompany sprinted, rose and headed home.
Taking the lead from a set piece was a nod to their English roots. Thereafter, they returned to the Dutch-Catalan mindset, but again they were aided inexplicably by United. David de Gea's weak kick out on 30 minutes was seized by Sane, who threaded the ball through to David Silva. He in turn played in Ilkay Gundogan and, with an elegance characteristic of this team, spun round whilst back heeling the ball into shooting position and stuck home decisively.
Ilkay Gundogan doubled City's advantage in just the 30th minute to put the hosts into dreamland early on at the Etihad
Germany international Gundogan celebrates with team-mate Raheem Sterling in front of the jubilant City fans
Gundogan celebrates with Danilo and his City colleagues in front of a blue fare during the opening period
The Germany midfielder sees his effort nestle into the bottom corner as United players watch on in despair
David de Gea dives to his left but cannot do anything to save Gundogan's fine effort in the 30th minute
Jose Mourinho was unsettled. He grumbled to fourth official Craig Pawson. He stood defiant in the technical area. But he knows when a team is insufficient for the task. His team mustered nothing by response. Instead, he watched on as Sterling spurned the opportunities to turn a healthy start into a rout. On 33 minutes, he was played in by David Silva and, with time and space, lifted the ball high over the bar. On 36 minutes, Silva again the provider, he did similar. 4-0 wouldn't have flattered City at that stage. United looked far from a Mourinho team: discordant, unsure of their shape and second best by far.
Conventional wisdom suggested United couldn't be as lame come the re-start: that Mourinho would insist on a reaction. Yet with City, who knows? Their capacity to humiliate their neighbours was evident. The moment was there to be seized. And when Sterling played in Gundogan on 51 minutes and the German lifted another easy chance over the crossbar there was little to suggest the imminent riposte.
Yet Pogba, always the centre of attention, just seemingly never for his football, seemingly sensed a time of reckoning. Hair dyed light blue - Gary Neville was aghast – and with the game passing him by, yet again, he did what so many have been waiting for over the last 20 months: he took hold of a game and wrested the momentum from United's opponents.
The first goal owed as much to intricate build up play by his team-mates and the dexterity of Alexis Sanchez, wriggling away from Nicolas Otamendi to tee up Herrera. He deftly chested the ball into the path of Pogba and from close range he prodded home to induce some hope on 53 minutes.
Captain Vincent Kompany opened the scoring for the hosts in the 25th minute with an emphatic header past De Gea
The Belgian defender beats Chris Smalling in the air to rifle the ball past the Spanish goalkeeper at the Etihad
Kompany leaps into the air as he celebrates his opener, while City fans taunt the travelling support on Saturday
Kompany's header was a throwback to the vital winner he scored for City against United back in April 2012
City players walk back to the halfway line after Kompany put his side in control against Jose Mourinho's outfit
Young was lucky not to give City an early penalty after he slipped and handled the ball in the penalty area
Less than two minutes later he had the band of United fans in the far corner in defiant rapture. This time he himself orchestrated the moment. It was a passage of play which illustrated precisely what he can be. Robustly winning the ball back in midfield, he freed up his midfielders to find Sanchez, who floated in a precise cross. Meanwhile Pogba had continued his run and rose beautifully to power a header home. Ninety seven seconds had passed since his former strike. Now the game changed, utterly.
City, so composed, were disjointed, knocked out of their stride for the second time in five days. They attempted to recover their fluency but a key component was missing: the swagger which fuels them. Then came a moment no-one could have envisaged at half time: Sanchez lifted a free kick into the City area, neither Otamendi nor Kompany responded, and the unlikely figure of Chris Smalling emerged to volley home, a pretty deft finish for a centre half.
City responded with the A team. On came De Bruyne, Jesus and Aguero. United survived on 77 minutes when Young dived in on Aguero, feet high but winning the ball inside the penalty area. He was seemingly saved by the obsolete adage of connecting with the ball; but he looked out of control and Martin Atkinson could easily have awarded a penalty.
Pogba is brought down by City defender Danilo during the opening stages of the eagerly-anticipated fixture
The France international falls on top of Danilo before being awarded a free-kick by referee Atkinson early on
Pogba, who Pep Guardiola revealed was offered to City in January, in action early on at the Etihad Stadium
City supporters hold up placards taunting Mourinho but praising Guardiola before kick-off in the Manchester derby
City and United players and fans observe a minutes applause for the late Ray Wilkins on Saturday evening
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