Though they’re third and fifth in the Premier League, the gulf between Manchester City and Manchester United is vast. City is 15 points ahead of its rival in the league and now two goals ahead after a 3-1 victory over United in the first leg of the Carabao Cup semifinals on Tuesday at Old Trafford.
Perhaps the best chance for either club to secure silverware this year, the Manchester Derby held added importance on Tuesday, far more than usual for a Carabao Cup match. Such was the significance in this match in Manchester that United had to issue a statement saying it would eject any fans caught cheering for City in the home fans’ sections.
The visitors ran rampant early, perhaps doing enough with three goals in the opening 45 minutes to secure advancement to the final. So dominant were the Citizens in the first half that Ole Gunnar Solskjær was forced to withdraw forward Jesse Lingard at halftime for defensive midfielder Nemanja Matic.
City boss Pep Guardiola fielded a strong lineup, albeit one without any sort of recognized striker. While no stranger to employing a false nine, as he did to great effect with Lionel Messi at Barcelona, Guardiola instead fielded two roaming No. 10s in Bernardo Silva and Kevin De Bruyne. The two midfielders started the press, maintained possession and struck with some devastating attacks.
Bernardo Silva Goal vs Man Utd
It was the Portuguese dynamo who opened the scoring in the 17th minute. Given time and space to advance, Silva blasted a shot from long range that left David de Gea no chance in goal.
Bernardo Silva put all of his 140 lbs into this one.pic.twitter.com/b1viQITFzx
— The18 (@the18com) January 7, 2020
It was a stunning strike but no less than the visitors deserved to that point.
Silva was involved again when City went up 2-0 in the 33rd minute. The midfielder played a perfect through ball to Riyad Mahrez, whose excellent first touch took him around de Gea for an easy tap-in.
The third City goal went down as an own goal by Andreas Pereira, but KDB really deserved the credit.
The Belgian made a fool of Phil Jones with a lovely move before blasting a shot de Gea did well to block. The deflection then bounced unfortunately off Pereira and into his own net.
Whether City’s intensity dropped in the second half or Solskjær’s change gave his side a boost tactically, United worked its way back into the match, to an extent.
Just as the limited City fanbase was chanting Olé, Mason Greenwood set up Marcus Rashford to score a lifeline for the Red Devils in the 70th minute.
While United was certainly better in the second half (some might even argue the better side over the latter 45 minutes), the damage was done by City. The two-goal deficit heading into the second leg at the Etihad will be tough to overcome for the Red Devils, but it is a rivalry so you can’t count them out.
That said, OGS will have to find a way to limit the dynamism of Bernardo Silva and Kevin De Bruyne in midfield.
The second leg is Jan. 29. The other semifinal pits Leicester City and Aston Villa on Wednesday and Jan. 28.
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