Pep Guardiola praised Michael Carrick’s Manchester United as the Red Devils started perfectly under interim coach, defeating their city rivals, Manchester City, 2-0 on derby day at Old Trafford on Saturday.
Carrick’s attack-minded side added a dent to City’s Premier League title hopes following goals from Bryan Mbeumo and Patrick Dorgu in the second half.
City goalkeeper Gianluigi Donnarumma was impressive in the match, keeping his team in the match with several brilliant saves as their defence was once again exposed by the United attack. The Italian ensured both teams went into the break with 0-0.
It was Bruno Fernandes who led a counter-attack and provided a perfect pass to Mbeumo, who finally dodged Donnarumma to put United 1-0 ahead in the 65th minute of the match.
Eleven minutes later, Matheus Cunha, who came off the bench, made an impact, and his cut-back was put into the net by Dorgu, putting the final nail in the coffin.
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Manchester City boss Pep Guardiola, speaking with Sky Sports, said United were the better side and deserved to win.
“The better team won. They were better. When a team is better you have to accept it. They had the energy we didn’t have, so congratulations,” Guardiola said.
“They had the chances at the end and of course the goals we conceded were poorly. We didn’t control but in general we can talk about this action or that action. We have the duty to analyse the game in general and they were better.”
Manchester United forward Bryan Mbeumo said it was one of the most special days he’s had at the club so far.
“I think it’s one of them. Scoring in front of this stand is unbelievable. Derby is even more and like Licha [Martinez] said, we used the energy of the fans today. This place was unbelievable today,” Mbeumo told Sky Sports.
He added that when he came back from AFCON, a lot of things had changed, and it was not easy for them, as they had only three days for preparation under the new coach, Carrick.
“When I came back a lot of things changed. I think we have a very good group. We always stick together. We have a fantastic unit, so it is unbelievable,” he added.
“It is a bit of everything. It is not easy because we only had three days. Because we are all together, we all want to win the same way with the same aim.”
United appointed Michael Carrick as their interim coach for the rest of the season, following their previous boss, Ruben Amorim, who was fired on January 5 after his bold statement against the club’s scouting department and sporting director, saying they should not interfere in his job.
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