By Davidson Abraham
The eyes of the footballing world were on Old Trafford as the neighbours met in the 191st Manchester derby and first since Pep Guardiola’s men matched their 1999 treble triumph. Erling Haaland’s double helped Manchester City secure derby day delight as lifeless rivals Manchester United were outclassed in an embarrassing home defeat.
Erling Haaland struck twice and Phil Foden added another to give Manchester City a dominant derby day victory over neighbours Manchester United, with the 3-0 win at Old Trafford taking the defending champions up to third, two points behind Premier League leaders Tottenham. https://sundiatapost.com/manchester-united-agree-deal-to-sign-inter-milan-and-cameroonian-goalkeeper-andre-onana-or-43m/
City had lost their last two on the road in the Premier League but had too much for a United side who, despite a recent run of narrow wins and a spate of injuries, have issues to address across the pitch. If it wasn’t for Andre Onana, who made a series of fine stops, the scoreline could easily have been heavier.
Haaland and Foden both scored hat-tricks in the 6-3 City win when these sides met a year ago and 12 months on the gap between the Manchester rivals remains huge. Haaland’s first came from the spot, after Rasmus Hojlund’s pull on Rodri in the box was punished by referee Paul Tierney from the pitchside monitor.
Premier League top scorer Haaland then hammered home a header after the break for his 11th goal of the season. It was a carbon copy of a chance at the end of the first half which Onana stunningly stopped but Haaland gave the goalkeeper no hope this time. Onana denied Haaland a third from a one-on-one chance soon after and the striker passed up the opportunity to go for goal again when he squared for Foden to tap in a simple finish to put City out of sight. https://sundiatapost.com/manchester-city-eye-new-heights-of-fourth-successive-league-titles/
City have now won six of the last eight derbies across all competitions and were rarely troubled in this one. A first-half Scott McTominay drive forced Ederson to tip over and Marcus Rashford sent a second-half chance wide but City head coach Pep Guardiola, in charge for a 20th Manchester derby, has mastered this match-up.
