Manchester United turned the derby against City and deepened the crisis of Guardiola’s team

Manchester United surprised Manchester City turned the result around in two minutes to beat them 2-1 for date 16 of the Premier League and thus the crisis of Pep Guardiola’s team deepened.

Amad Diallo He was the hero of United’s comeback: in the throes of the match he generated a penalty that led to equality and then scored the winning goal. Josko Gvardiol had put City ahead in the first half.

Only at 21 minutes did the first attempt at the goal of the game come: Jérémy Doku created danger on the left, managed to shoot the center and after a clearance the ball fell to Phil Foden, who finished and his shot went very close to the fence defended by André Onana.

The initial stage had excess precautions and a lack of mobility and surprises on the part of both teams.

Equality, beyond City’s slight superiority, was the fairest thing. Until at 36 minutes, Josko Gvardiol broke parity with a house specialty: a headed goal. The Croatian defender took advantage of a cross from Kevin De Bruyne that deflected off Amad Diallo, connected with a header and inflated the net of Onana, who had no possible reaction.

It was Gvardiol’s fourth goal in the 2024/2025 Premier League, making him the second top scorer for Guardiola’s team in the league behind Erling Haaland (13).

Manchester City was close to going into halftime with an exaggerated goal advantage: in the 49th minute Foden, the most creative on the pitch, invented spaces with a couple of dribbles and his shot, which deflected off Harry Maguire, went very close. of the stick after the saving intervention of Onana.

In the second stage, the local team was uncomfortable because they could not take control of the game. Rodri’s absence is clearly noticeable: Guardiola’s men no longer dominate the games and although they have more possession than their rival, they do not overwhelm.

And the visitor came close to the tie twice: in the 62nd minute, with a header from Diallo that Ederson sent to the corner with a great save, and in the 74th, with a clearance from Rasmus Hojlund for Bruno Fernandes, who scored just wide in the face face to face with Ederson.

The third time was the charm because At 86 minutes Matheus Nunes made two huge mistakes: first he gave the ball to Diallo at the start and then, out of desperation to correct his mistake, he gave him a penalty. Fernandes executed it perfectly a couple of minutes later to seal the tie.

And when City were still stunned by the equalizing blow, just two minutes later, Lisandro Martínez gave a wonderful pass to Diallo, who with absolute coldness passed the ball over the goalkeeper and defined with category to reverse the score.

With little flight and many doubts, The Citizens deepened their crisis: they only won one of their last eleven games, something that had not happened to them for more than 20 years, when they won one of eighteen between November 2003 and February 2004.

For its part, Manchester United avoided losing three games in a row in the Premier League for the first time since December 2015 when the coach was Louis van Gaal.

Rúben Amorim broke a negative streak for United coaches: since Alex Ferguson in 1987, a Red Devils coach did not win in his first derby.