Manchester City 1-2 Manchester United: Premier League – as it happened

Manchester City 1-2 Manchester United: Premier League – as it happened

Key events

Ruben Amorim has offered Rashford and Garnacho a route back into the side. “New week, new life,” he said. “If they train well, they will compete for a place in the team.” And on that happy not, I’m off. Bye!

Bernardo Silva: “In the last minute we played like the under-15s and we paid the price

I’m going to leave you with this, from Bernardo Silva. Bye!

We totally deserved what happened. If it’s 10 games it’s not about luck. If you look at the game my feeling was there was only one team that could win, but in the end we lost. We have to look at ourselves. It’s not about, ‘We’re playing well and it’s a bit unlucky.’ It’s the decisions you make. Today in the last minute we played like the under-15s and we paid the price.

It’s frustrating. From a corner for Manchester City, when you even leave a centre-back at the back, you end up with the ball with our keeper and there’s no excuse at this level. There’s no excuse for what happened. It’s not just that pass to the keeper, it’s from the corner for us to having to play to the keeper. It cannot happen. We have to do better in these situations. At this level if you make these kind of mistakes you deserve to lose the game. We just have to do better.

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And here’s David Hytner’s match report, no doubt completely rewritten in a manic final few minutes. Won’t somebody think of the journalists?

When Ruben Amorim oversaw his previous victory over Manchester City – with his old club Sporting in the Champions League – it was to push the reigning Premier League champions towards crisis. That was in early November and it was City’s third defeat on the spin.

As Amorim repeated the trick here, it was to pep up his new project at Manchester United and leave Pep Guardiola on his knees. There seems no way out of the misery for the City manager, this an eighth defeat in 11 matches in all competitions, the decline of his all-conquering team stark and extraordinary.

For so long, it had looked as though City would close out a much-needed victory thanks to Josko Gvardiol’s first-half header. They had played meekly but United had no cutting edge. They were powder-puff in the final third. And then, at the very end, they were not and they could embrace a result which Amorim will try to use as a catalyst.

Much more here:

If you missed all the excitement in the Scottish League Cup final, Ewan Murray’s got you covered.

xG suggests it was the fairest of results. According to the same account, from open play City’s xG was just 0.29.

Man City (0.99) 1-2 (2.18) Man Utd

— The xG Philosophy (@xGPhilosophy) December 15, 2024

For the second week in a row City haven’t won, Arsenal haven’t won and Liverpool haven’t won. Chelsea are about to host Brentford, who have one away point to their names this season, and a win would take them within two points of the leaders, and seven clear of City.

An eighth defeat in 11 in all competitions for Manchester City. Remarkable. They were poor here, their goal was lucky – well taken, but entirely reliant on a massively deflected “cross” – and they created almost nothing beyond that, and did not have a single shot on target in the second half. United were not much better, and it’s hard to argue that they deserved to win, but they certainly didn’t deserve to lose. Amad Diallo was frustrating at times but he was involved in almost all of United’s best moments, including the two in about 180 seconds that turned the game around.

Pep Guardiola walks off. Photograph: The Guardian
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The league table this evening looks like this:

Final score: Manchester City 1-2 Manchester United

90+6 mins: Zirkzee intercepts a pass, runs downfield, protects the ball, and wastes the last few seconds of the game. It’s all over!

90+5 mins: Then Walker boots a hopeful, hopeless long ball into the arms of Onana.

90+5 mins: But Grealish can’t beat the first man, and it’s headed away.

90+5 mins: Now it’s all about manic defensive effort for United. Lindelof concedes a corner.

90+4 mins: Sky timed the gap between City kicking off after the equaliser and them conceding another at 54 seconds.

90+2 mins: And in the middle of all that Amad has gone off, Victor Lindelof has come on, and the fourth official has signalled five minutes of stoppage time.

90+1 mins: It’s a long ball forward from Martinez, beautifully weighted to tempt Ederson forward while allowing Amad to reach it first. His first touch takes it away from the keeper, and he then sends in a shot from an acute angle that runs just behind the sprinting Josko Gvardiol, somehow avoiding his legs, on its way in at the far post!

GOAL! Manchester City 1-2 Manchester United (Amad, 90 mins)

United have turned the game on its head in a matter of seconds! Amad Diallo has only gone and put them into the lead!

Amad Diallo of Manchester United scores his team’s second goal. Photograph: Carl Recine/Getty Images
City’s players look distraught. Photograph: Tom Jenkins/The Guardian
Diallo celebrates. Photograph: Carl Recine/Getty Images
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GOAL! Manchester City 1-1 Manchester United (Fernandes, 88 mins)

… but he gets this right! Ederson goes the wrong way as Fernandes sidefoots to his right, and United are deservedly level!

Bruno Fernandes scores the penalty. Photograph: Tom Jenkins/The Guardian
Fernandes (C) celebrates after scoring from the spot. Photograph: Peter Powell/EPA
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87 mins: Bruno Fernandes, who has had a poor game by his standards, puts the ball on the spot…

Penalty to Manchester United!

86 mins: A catalogue of chaos from City! Nunes’s back-pass is too weak and Amad steals it before Ederson can get there. Nunes rushes back to make amends, but succeeds only in bringing Amad down inside the area, and that is a penalty!

Manchester United’s Amad Diallo (right) is fouled by Manchester City’s Matheus Nunes in the penalty box. Photograph: Martin Rickett/PA
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84 mins: United needlessly concede a corner, which given their corner-concession statistics is inadvisable. This one, though, is headed clear.

84 mins: Good pressure from United, but at the end of it Mainoo heads Martinez’s cross way over the bar from around the penalty spot.

81 mins: Nice interplay on the right between Antony and Amad, who runs to the byline and tries a pull-back which deflects to Fernandes, who absent-mindedly kicks it straight out of play, as if he forgot where he was and what he was doing, but was pretty sure he didn’t want that round yellow thing bothering him.

78 mins: A triple substitution for United: Joshua Zirkzee replaces Hojland, Antony comes on for Mazraoui, and Leny Yoro replaces De Ligt.

77 mins: The ball rolls to Haaland inside the penalty area, his first shooting chance of the day. Martinez gets in the way of the shot, and it loops wide for a corner. Before it’s taken, Jack Grealish comes on for Doku.

74 mins: What a chance! And what a miss! Hojland plays the ball through for Bruno Fernandes, run and pass in perfect synchronicity. The Portuguese looks up, sees Ederson onrushing, and chips over him and … beyond the far post!

73 mins: “If there’s nothing worth watching at the Etihad for now, check out what’s happening north o’the border,” suggests Jeremy Boyce. “Celtic 3 – 3 Rangers, 10 yellow cards so far, missiles launched at the polis (who would have thought ?), proper derby, know what I mean?” Only a couple of minutes of extra time to play there in the League Cup final.

70 mins: Doku gets to the byline and sends in a cross which is fractionally too high for Haaland.

69 mins: Amad is looking lively, and much less offside, on the right for United. Gary Neville on Sky is certainly a fan. United could do with someone on the left to balance that width.

68 mins: De Bruyne goes off, signing off with a rising drive from 23 yards or so that rises well over the bar. Kovacic is on.

67 mins: Mateo Kovacic is about to come on for City.

65 mins: Looking back at that challenge, it is impossible to see how that wasn’t a foul on Hojland by Dias. Stuart Attwell, today’s VAR, quickly decides he doesn’t need to get involved.

64 mins: Now Hojland goes down in the penalty area, after Dias throws a leg across him in an attempt to get the ball. The referee gives a goal kick.

Rasmus Hojlund of Manchester United is challenged by Ruben Dias of Manchester City in the penalty area. Photograph: Carl Recine/Getty Images
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62 mins: Save! Amad’s header looked to be heading towards the post rather than the net, but Ederson makes sure. A good cross from Fernandes that time.

61 mins: Quite a lot of not a lot happening currently, which I suppose is fine from City’s point of view. “I guess there may be something the wider world doesn’t know about happening behind the scenes, but to deliberately leave out two attacking players who offer pace and the ability to beat opponents as well as a dozen goals between them this season against a City side struggling to cope with pace just seems plain weird,” writes Rick Harris. There’s a story to be told here, for sure.

59 mins: There has not been a massive qualitative improvement since half-time.

55 mins: Patient build-up on the right from United, and then Fernandes spoils it by biffing a ludicrous cross out of play.

54 mins: Anthony Taylor is giving too many free-kicks. Blowing whistles is fun and everything but let it flow, man.

53 mins: After a period of City pressure United win a free-kick, and Fernandes immediately gifts the ball back to them.

51 mins: Bernardo Silva beautifully nutmegs Diogo Dalot. Lovely stuff.

47 mins: United start on the front foot, but again they’re caught offside. Emails continue to arrive about Kyle Walker’s terrible head issue shortly before half-time.

“It would seem to be a very easy rule that anybody who simulates like Walker did should receive at least the punishment that they were trying to trick the ref into giving the other player,” suggests Adam. “So if you pretend someone headbutted you and fling yourself to the floor like a prat, off you go and have some time in the stands to think about what you’ve done.” It’s not a terrible idea. I’m always surprised that we don’t see more double-yellow cards – for example, Walker might have been booked for the foul on Hojland, and booked again for the aggression that followed it. The first booking might have been harsh, but if I were a referee I would have really enjoyed brandishing it.

46 mins: Peeeeeep! The game is back under way.

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City finally join them on the pitch. “Let’s hope Kyle Walker got some half-time treatment for that badly brushed eyebrow,” writes Justin Kavanagh. “Get well soon, tough guy!”

United are back out, well before City.

This statistic is astonishing and damning. Manchester United might not have conceded the most goals from corners in the Premier League, but for Wolves (who’ve let in nine) it’s only 22.5% of their total, and while they have conceded 123 corners so far this season United, before today, had only conceded 70.

It has been, in truth, a poor half of football. Or a perfectly good half of poor football. One of the two. The goal owed a fair amount to luck, De Bruyne pretty much blasting the ball into the nearest defender and the deflection turning it into a masterful inch-perfect spinning wondercross, but Gvardiol’s header was very good. There is hope here for United, but if Amad Diallo is going to be the one making the key runs beyond the home defence he needs to time them better.

Josko Gvardiol of Manchester City puts his team ahead. Photograph: Carl Recine/Getty Images
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Half time: Manchester City 1-0 Manchester United

45+5 mins: The corner is taken short again, and returned to De Bruyne again. This time he’s fouled and the referee allows him to take, and waste, the free kick before blowing for half-time.

Lean on me: Manchester United goalkeeper Andre Onana leans on Manchester City’s Bernardo Silva as they wait for a corner. Photograph: Martin Rickett/PA
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45+4 mins: From that free-kick, United mess up their attempt to play their way out from the goal kick and City end up with two minutes of possession and pressure, ending with Foden’s shot being deflected, and then saved. Corner.

46+2 mins: De Bruyne wins a free-kick on the right, pretty much on the spot where he took that shot a few minutes ago. He takes it, and sends it straight into touch.

45+1 mins: There’ll be four minutes of first-half stoppage time, or thereabouts.

44 mins: Amad Diallo is perpetually offside. The concept of holding his run seems entirely foreign to him. He’s caught offside again.

43 mins: Dalot’s back-pass forces Onana to come out wide of his area to prevent a corner. He then passes to Maguire, who isn’t really ready for it, whose blind pass goes straight to De Bruyne. Onana by this stage is running back to his goal, and De Bruyne’s first-time 40-yarder from the right touchline goes straight to him.

40 mins: The free kick is swung into the area, and seems to come off Mainoo and run behind. The refereed gives United a corner.

39 mins: Walker fouls Hojland, who leaps up and returns to confront him. The two players put their foreheads together, contact which ends with Walker flinging himself to the ground. It’s pretty shameful from Walker, and the referee isn’t fooled. Both players are booked.

Head-to-head: Manchester United’s Rasmus Hojlund and Manchester City’s Kyle Walker clash. Photograph: Tom Jenkins/The Guardian
Walker goes down. Photograph: Tom Jenkins/The Guardian
Shameful Walker: Harry Maguire of Manchester United and Erling Haaland of Manchester City clash as Kyle Walker of Manchester City falls on the floor following an altercation with Rasmus Hojlund. Photograph: Tom Jenkins/The Guardian
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38 mins: Now Kyle Walker is on the ground, the crowd is baying, and all 22 players run to join in with some handbags.

GOAL! Manchester City 1-0 Manchester United (Gvardiol, 37 mins)

The home side open the scoring! It’s a corner, played short to Bernardo Silva and then returned to De Bruyne, whose cross deflects off Diallo and spins and dips onto the head of Gvardiol, whose header from six yards loops beyond Onana.

Manchester City’s Josko Gvardiol heads the ball… Photograph: Jason Cairnduff/Action Images/Reuters
Josko Gvardiol of Manchester City scores his team’s first goal. Photograph: Carl Recine/Getty Images
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35 mins: Fernandes tackles Bernardo Silva from behind again, on the halfway line. This time he doesn’t get the ball, and City get a free kick.




Source From: Premier League | The Guardian

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