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Bruno Fernandes celebrates his goal, the City players protest
Photo:
Shaun Botterill/Getty Images
England can also cause VAR trouble:
Bruno Fernandes' goal to make it 1-1 should keep English football scholars busy.
Manchester United's Casemiro sent Marcus Rashford on the trip.
The attacker was clearly offside, ran towards the ball, did not touch it, but shielded it.
Bruno Fernandes rushed over and shot past City keeper Ederson (78th minute).
All the players in sky blue protested violently.
Referee Stuart Attwell consulted the video assistant and decided: The goal counts, Rashford did not actively intervene in the action.
A decision that not only caused question marks for city coach Pep Guardiola.
The goal was the beginning of the end for City in this city derby.
The result:
Manchester United then turned the game around in the English Premier League and, third in the table, move up to one point behind their city rivals.
Jack Grealish (60') had previously scored for City, while Bruno Fernandes (78') and Marcus Rashford (82') scored for United.
Arsenal continue to lead the table.
Shocked:
While the Citizens were still discussing the equalizer, United struck again.
18-year-old Alejandro Garnacho wobbled up the defense and served Rashford, who pushed the ball over the line.
Old Trafford was head over heels after that double whammy within four minutes.
The first half:
In the well-known manner, the English champions let the ball circle in their own ranks.
Rodrigo, Bernardo Silva and Kevin De Bruyne played pass after pass – but didn't pose a major threat.
United defended without much trouble, but also without attempting a beauty prize.
At first, the fans at Old Trafford even applauded liberation blows.
The Red Devils had a number of half-chances overall, with City's best chance coming from a distance from Kyle Walker just before half-time.
Erling Haaland?
Completely invisible.
A failed genius:
Manchester City's game was seriously sluggish for 60 minutes.
Then Pep Guardiola came up with the idea of including Jack Grealish.
The 27-year-old once moved to Manchester for 117.5 million euros, but so far has not lived up to this sum.
In the derby, he scored a goal worth seeing when he headed in after a De Bruyne cross in the penalty area and headed the ball into the goal.
Guardiola replaced Riyad Mahrez, the winning goalscorer, in the 1-0 win against Chelsea at the beginning of January.
"I'm a genius," he joked afterwards, knowing full well that the enormously expensive and talented squad offers him some opportunities.
Guardiola's genius wasn't enough against United.
The second half:
United continued to retreat, City tried and looked on course for victory after Graelish scored.
Then United turned the game in the crazy four minutes at Old Trafford.
Haaland also took part in the game late, headed towards the goal and was disturbed by Casemiro.
The Norwegian called for a penalty, but the game continued (86').
Rightly so, as the slow-motion recording showed.
The scene matched the bloodless appearance of the former BVB attacker.
Three months like three years:
The first leg between the two teams in early October was an absurdly obvious affair.
Haaland and Phil Foden each scored three times for Manchester City, when the game was long over, Anthonys and Anthony Martial did a little cosmetic work with two goals.
The balance of power in Manchester seemed cemented.
A little over three months later, the Reds showed that they are a force to be reckoned with again.
Incidentally, Cristiano Ronaldo was on the bench for 90 minutes at the time, coach ten Hag said that he had not substituted him in this debacle out of respect.
It was a different time.
The new Ronaldo:
As is well known, the retired Portuguese exceptional attacker is now traveling in Saudi Arabia (where he is still waiting for his first assignment).
In order to fill the now somewhat thinned-out attacking center, ten Hag wanted a compatriot and so United, somewhat surprisingly, signed ex-Wolfsburg player Wout Weghorst.
He was presented on Friday evening, but did not make it into the squad, but followed the game and his family from the stands.
There are reservations about Weghorst, who is already 30 and has never played at the absolute top level.
At times, United would have done well to have a big target player.
Pretty dangerous:
The United offensive is not in a bad way.
Garnacho showed his potential and is now the youngest player to have assisted in 189 Manchester derbies to date.
And Rashford scores in the style of a world-class attacker and has now scored in seven straight games.
Was that successful in the end?
Of course Cristiano Ronaldo.
When two argue:
United are back in the title race with victory.
However, the big winner could still be Arsenal.
The Londoners could move eight points clear with a win in the north London derby against Tottenham on Sunday.
The genius Guardiola would also have to catch up on such a deficit.