Manchester United came from behind to win an enthralling Manchester derby full of quality and controversy in equal measure.
City humiliated their rivals when the two met earlier this season, prevailing 6-3, but with United finding their feet under Erik ten Hag since then, a closer counter was expected this time around.
It quickly became clear that it would indeed be one with little to choose between the two teams in the opening stages of the matches, largely because Kevin de Bruyne was being kept out of the game by a Brazilian shadow in Fred, a surprise inclusion in the United XI who took the Old Trafford faithful back the days of Ander Herrera with his tight marking.
Fred and Kevin De Bruyne pic.twitter.com/gtj0GPaLnJ
— Sean Walsh (@SeanDZWalsh) January 14, 2023
Fred is doing a man marking job on Kevin De Bruyne at the minute. Following him around the pitch like Herrera on Hazard. #MUNMCI
— Football Tweet ⚽ (@Football__Tweet) January 14, 2023
🔴🔵
With Pep Guardiola's main creative force stifled, it was Ten Hag's team that created the first chance of the match with Marcus Rashford having an effort cleared off the line after rounding Ederson before having the ball taken from his feet by the goalkeeper inside the box.
📸 - RASHFORD IS PAST EDERSON BUT NO GOAL! pic.twitter.com/AoVoPVdoNJ
— 𝐀𝐅𝐂 𝐀𝐉𝐀𝐗 💎 (@TheEuropeanLad) January 14, 2023
With the Englishman looking so dangerous, there was fear throughout the Theatre of Dreams when he pulled up shortly before half-time and went down in pain.
Rashford down injured. He was struggling a few moments ago. #mufc
— Samuel Luckhurst (@samuelluckhurst) January 14, 2023
Hopefully Rashford is ok..we could be in serious trouble if he’s injured
— 𝒥𝒶𝓂𝑒𝓈🔰 (@1Unitedforlife) January 14, 2023
Rashford please don’t be injured pic.twitter.com/0pKenHEJ1f
— Assistant TO the Regional Manager (@__idemudia) January 14, 2023
To the delight of the United faithful though, he was fit enough to stay on for the second half, and they weren't too gutted about Anthony Martial being taken off either.
Martial plays like there's 900 minutes in a game
— Aidan Walsh 🔰 (@AidanWalshMUFC) January 14, 2023
United are doing all right but they need more out of Martial. Maybe he's not fully fit but it's starting to look like one of those days when he's not that fussed.
— Rob Dawson (@RobDawsonESPN) January 14, 2023
Martial off the ball. pic.twitter.com/MA7bZ06TcN
— Audacious Andy Leavy🍥 (@midniteauth0r) January 14, 2023
City started the second half well though, with De Bruyne starting to find some space and wield his influence on the match more and more.
The hosts paid the price for allowing that with the midfielder setting up Jack Grealish on the hour mark and the substitute opening the scoring just three minutes after coming on.
Imagine giving Grealish a free header 🤡
— nad⁷ - 2025 waiting room (@caffreyjoons) January 14, 2023
Erling Haaland standing unmarked in the box... Jack Grealish getting a free header to score the goal... De Gea doesn’t come to collect the cross and Varane watches as it glides past him. They’re not a serious team. Beat 3 relegation sides and started piping up.
— Charles Fútbol 🏴🇪🇸🇧🇷 (@charlesfutbol_) January 14, 2023
The visitors kept control of the match after that and looked set to take the three points in a relatively comfortable fashion.
However, Bruno Fernandes had other ideas, bagging an equaliser that was initially ruled out for offside before VAR judged that Rashford hadn't in fact been involved in the goal. It was a decision that divided opinion.
He doesn’t actually interfere. He’s not blocking anyone
— Scott Saunders (@_scottsaunders) January 14, 2023
Pep Guardiola: "Rashford was offside, he distracted our keeper and defenders.” #MUFC pic.twitter.com/YRtz8OV5Ze
— Stretford Paddock (@StretfordPaddck) January 14, 2023
Yes, Rashford was shielding the ball after coming from an offside position.
— Has the Referee or VAR made a poor decision? (@PoorEPLreferees) January 14, 2023
The laws clearly state that the goal should not have stood pic.twitter.com/gWUWR35mgc
With the decision still being hotly debated, United then caught their neighbours off-guard four minutes later with Alejandro Garnacho squaring to Rashford and the forward giving his side the lead, completely turning the game on its head and continuing his stunning start to 2023.
rashford pretending to be injured: pic.twitter.com/sg7H1oCYLa
— mbappe➡️united (@barinwashere) January 14, 2023
7 - Marcus Rashford is the first Manchester United player to score in seven consecutive appearances (all competitions) since Cristiano Ronaldo in April 2008. Golden. pic.twitter.com/fXGhvABKPR
— OptaJoe (@OptaJoe) January 14, 2023
Marcus Rashford so far this season:
— Statman Dave (@StatmanDave) January 14, 2023
👕 26 appearances
⚽ 16 goals
🅰️ 6 assists
Form of his life. 💥 pic.twitter.com/ABEEJEbusL
With City now in need of a goal, attention then turned to how quiet star man Erling Haaland had been throughout the match.
Pity for Man City that Haaland decided to play like his father today.
— Paddy Power (@paddypower) January 14, 2023
Man City was a better team without Haaland, even if he scores 40 goals this season
— Didi Hamann (@DietmarHamann) January 14, 2023
Ultimately, the Norwegian wasn't able to come close to equalising, nor were any of his team-mates, with United taking all three points to move within a point of City and spark talk of a potential title challenge.
Man Utd are now in the title race. Only 1 point behind Man City after 18 games. Ten Hag is proving to be a class act. 👏 #MUNMCI pic.twitter.com/p1A15a4E4s
— Matt Sibson (@MattSibson) January 14, 2023
Manchester United are actually in the title race, I'm not going to lie and it's a little scary. It's coinciding with Howard Webb being appointed the new PGMOL chief referring officer.
— WelBeast (@WelBeast) January 14, 2023
Manchester United fans joining the title race this week. pic.twitter.com/X2dlZ4HqHB
— Yomi Kazeem (@TheYomiKazeem) January 14, 2023
Whether they can challenge Arsenal is very much uncertain with the Gunners holding a considerable lead at the top of the table, but one thing is abundantly clear after their derby win: United are going places under Erik ten Hag.
Source : 90min