Straight
Without boasting, between troubles and shortcomings, Manchester United is back.
After liquidating the contract with Cristiano Ronaldo, who slammed the door after pointing out a string of disasters and in the middle of the volcanic process of leaving his controversial property, the Old Trafford team is not only the only English team to survive in four competitions but also in the Premier has made the leap from fighting for fourth place to looking towards the lead.
After a vibrant comeback against Manchester City (2-1), United are one point behind their arch-rivals and six behind leaders Arsenal, who visit Tottenham this Sunday.
MNUM.
united
2
De Gea, Varane, Shaw, Wan-Bissaka, Tyrell Malacia (Lisandro Martínez, min. 92), Eriksen (Alejandro Garnacho, min. 72), Fred, Bruno Fernandes, Rashford (Harry Maguire, min. 92), Casemiro (McTominay , min. 92) and Anthony Martial (Antony, min. 45)
MNC M City
one
Ederson Moraes, Aké, Manuel Akanji, Walker, Cancelo, Bernardo Silva, Rodrigo, De Bruyne, Foden (Grealish, min. 57), Erling Braut Haaland and Mahrez
Goals
0-1 min.
60: Grealish.
1-1 min.
78: Bruno Fernandes.
2-1 min.
82: Rashford.
Referee
Stuart Attwell
Yellow cards Eriksen (min. 64), Fred (min. 87) and Casemiro (min. 89)
United's triumph had several edges.
One of them leads to the previous derby on October 2, with four goals conceded before the break and a 6-3 final at the Etihad that shook the foundations at Old Trafford and distanced both teams by eight points.
But since then the team that Erik Ten Hag rebuilds has scored 26 out of 33 possible, has barely lost against Aston Villa and its last five games have been wins.
On this day, he left City behind after getting them not to shoot a goal in the entire first half, after suffering at the start of the second, conceding a goal and coming back in four crazy minutes in the final stretch of a duel with more vigor than football.
Enough to leave an aftertaste of a great match because emotions still have weight in football to be up to the ball.
It hurts City because they come from a League Cup elimination against Southampton, also because when doing the math they see that they have only won two of their last five Premier League games.
He also hurts them because the punishment came unexpectedly, after amending a bad start at the start of the second half, without the resources to find their interiors and become a deep team.
He did it after the break and De Bruyne showed it in the genesis of a Grealish goal that seemed like a winner, but that came to nothing in the middle of a storm that began with an episode that forced to squeeze the regulation because the referee interpreted that a movement of Rashford to look for the ball in offside did not invalidate an action in which Bruno Fernandes was the one who contacted her to tie the game.
MADNESS IN OLD TRAFFORD!
Bruno Fernandes gets the draw for Manchester United.
The VAR decided that Rashford did not intervene and that there was no offside 🔥 #PremierLeagueDAZN ⚽ 🏴
— DAZN Spain (@DAZN_ES) January 14, 2023
This goal requires a review of the rule and its interpretation, the concepts that encourage not to confuse "disputing the ball" with "trying to play the ball."
According to the arbitral body, an attacker who runs towards the ball without entering into a dispute with the defender, does not incur an offence.
This is stated by the referee and collegiate teacher, Xabier Rodríguez in his book
Arbi, ¿qué whistle?
, a small bible that collects an endless number of dubious actions.
And this was it.
There is case law on the matter, Athletic's third goal in a Champions League preview against Napoli in 2014, which is used as an example in arbitration conclaves and agrees with the refereeing of this Manchester derby.
Rodríguez explains it in his book: “The willingness to play the ball is not by itself enough to be considered as interfering.
Although strikers don't normally understand it, it's an action that favors them”.
Bruno Fernandes was alive, he took advantage of the action and then explained it after the game as if he were a member of the International Board: "Rashford has no influence because although he goes for the ball, he had no one close to him."
The draw led to frenzy and United found their prize, unleashed as it was.
Rashford scored after a maneuver by the bubbly Garnacho and opened an agonizing finish for the locals, who hung on the crossbar, but also did not grant options to a City that never found Haaland.
He only shot once between the sticks, and it was a goal, Guardiola's team, who interpreted the controversial action as offside, but did not pay full attention to it either: "United is a threat in transitions and they punished us in them" .
With 29% possession and half as many touches and passes as their rival, they took the points.
Liverpool hit it against Brigthon
The rest of the day shows Liverpool's problems just over a month after the first duel of the Champions League round of 16 against Real Madrid.
Not even the debut of Cody Gakpo in the Premier revitalized the team led by Jürgen Klopp, beaten (3-0) in Brighton with three goals after the break in which a defense weakened by the absence of Van Dijk, injured, was evident.
Luis Díaz, Diogo Jota, Firmino or Darwin Núñez are also out, so the German coach is in trouble.
At the end of the game he went to the back where the fans of his team were, he put his hands together and apologized.
Things are going better for Julen Lopetegui, who took over the bottom team during the World Cup break and is now out of relegation.
The Wolves beat West Ham (1-0), which now falls into the red zone, thanks to a new goal from the Portuguese Podence.
Now the anxiety is for guys like Frank Lampard, who seems to have his hours numbered at Everton after losing (1-2) against bottom club Southampton at Goodison Park.
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