Manchester United vs. Manchester City result: City dominates Ronaldo & Co. at Old Trafford

Simon Borg

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Manchester United vs. Manchester City result: City dominates Ronaldo & Co. at Old Trafford image

It finished 2-0, but it was never really that close. Reigning Premier League champions Manchester City comfortably won this season’s first Manchester derby, dominating the possession and scoring chances at Old Trafford. The visitors capitalized on two Manchester United mistakes to move to within two points of first place.

A 7th minute own goal by Manchester United’s Eric Bailly, and a Bernardo Silva goal at the stroke of halftime capped a comprehensive first-half performance by the visitors. Then City managed the second half, often controlling possession and keeping Man United at bay. The Red Devils brought on three attacking subs, but they could not affect the match, and Man United meekly succumbed to their rivals.

The result keeps Manchester City in the English Premier League title race, only three points out of first, but Manchester United finds itself nine points off the pace from league-leading Chelsea. With Chelsea, Liverpool and Man City flying ahead after 11 matches of the 38-game season, Man United could be forced to settle for a battle for fourth place and the Champions League berth that comes with it.

MORE: Premier League schedule, results & highlights

Man United came out with a 3-5-2 formation, but the Red Devils were immediately pinned back and failed to disrupt Man City with any meaningful pressure. After the own goal by Bailly on a failed clearance, only Spanish netminder David De Gea prevented the deficit from ballooning with several spectacular stops. The second goal just before halftime was deserved for Man City, and it was emblematic of United's poor play on the day. Luke Shaw allowed a cross to reach Silva and De Gea bumbled the save attempt at the near post.

Despite a change in formation after the break to a 4-2-3-1, the second half felt like more of a training exercise for Man City. Man United enjoyed slightly more possession than in the first half, but despite the entrance of Jadon Sancho, Marcus Rashford and Donny van de Beek, it never troubled Man City. The visitors were actually closer to scoring a third and arguably should have had a penalty kick with two minutes left in the game. 

"We started the game off badly, of course. Passive. And when they get the first goal, it was always going to be a difficult game anyway," said under-fire Man United manager Ole Gunnar Solskjaer. "[Man City] played well, of course. They don't give you the opportunity to win the ball off them. Some praise goes to them, but we were not at our level. The standard needs to be raised."  

Manchester United vs. Manchester City final score

  1H 2H Final
Manchester United 0 0 0
Manchester City 2 0 2

Goals:
MANC — own goal (Eric Bailly) — 7th min.
MANC — Bernardo Silva (Joao Cancelo) — 45th min.

(All times Eastern)

Final: Manchester United 0, Manchester City 2

90th min.: Yellow card to Cristiano Ronaldo for an unnecessary slide tackle on Kevin De Bruyne when the Belgian was on the ground and just outside the touch line. Four minutes of stoppage time.

88th min.: Alex Telles takes down Man City's Gabriel Jesus in the box, but the officials don't give the penalty kick. Replays showed he clearly tripped him.

86th min.: On a Manchester City corner kick, John Stones gets a shot off, but it goes wide. The subs haven't made a difference for Manchester United. City will see this one out.

82nd min.: Phil Foden hits the post! Kevin De Bruyne with the past to Foden in space in the left side of the box and his diagonal shot hits the base of the far post.

80th min.: SUB - Donny van de Beek comes in for Fred. Man United going for it.

76th min.: Man City chance. Ball to the far post, where Kevin De Bruyne attempts a volley attempt but it doesn't come off. Goal kick. Man City continue to knock it around. Man United outclassed.

73rd min.: SUB - Luke Shaw can't continue. Rodri collided with him a few minutes earlier delivering a knock to his head, but after a few minutes Shaw comes off. Alex Telles takes his place.

71st min.: It really feels like Man City is happy to just see this one out: knocking it around or keeping Man United in front of them. If they wanted to, it feels like Man City could really be pinning back Man United.

67th min.: SUB - After Ilkay Gundogan gets a shot off against the side netting, Man United makes another sub with Marcus Rashford coming in for Mason Greenwood.

59th min.: Mason Greenwood cuts inside from the right, as he's known to do, and he fires a left-footed shot that bounces wide. It wasn't ever close.

58th min.: Yellow card for Bernardo Silva, who brings down Cristiano Ronaldo with the fancy footwork. It's just past midfield, not a dangerous situation, but Silva has committed multiple fouls.

53rd min.: Better from Man United in possession to start the second half. Man City seems content to let Man United enjoy some of the ball.

48th min.: Yellow card for Joao Cancelo for stopping a promising attack as Jadon Sancho ran at him down the right side. Nothing comes of the set piece.

46th min.: Second half underway. Jadon Sancho in for Eric Bailly. With the center back coming off, it's a 4-2-3-1 for Man United.

Halftime: Manchester United 0, Manchester City 2

Halftime: If it wasn't for David De Gea, this scoreline would be on par with the Liverpool 5-0 win at Old Trafford. Manchester United can't keep possession, it can't disrupt Man City's players with pressure, and its players are making mistakes: Eric Bailly's own goal and De Gea/Shaw on the second goal. There's a gulf in class between these two teams. The Red Devils are on the back foot.

45th min.: Goal Man City! Cancelo lofts a ball into the box and Luke Shaw just lets Bernardo Silva glide by him for the touch and he beats David De Gea at the post. Poor from the goalkeeper. Poor from Shaw.

40th min.: Cristiano Ronaldo shot on goal, but he's offside on the pass from Aaron Wan-Bissaka. Ronaldo seems to be Man United's only hope. Mason Greenwood and Bruno Fernandes have been invisible.

34th min.: De Gea again with a save. Kevin De Bruyne shoots and he tips it away on the corner. There's another shot on the corner and De Gea blocks again!

33th min.: Nearly another Man United own goal! Cross from the left and this time it's Victor Lindelof who deflects it on goal, but David De Gea blocks it.

29th min.: De Gea with a big save! Phil Foden sprung in behind and the play leads to a shot in the box by Gabriel Jesus, but De Gea tips it away. Two straight corners for Man City. De Gea stops first, Cancelo skies the other.

26th min.: What a chance for ManU! First sustained possession and it results in a Luke Shaw cross that finds Ronaldo for the volley, but Ederson blocks it and Man City clears. The Old Trafford crowd is back into it.

24th min.: It's been all Manchester City. Man United doesn't have anyone who wants the ball. Cristiano Ronaldo had one attacking run and he was offside on that play. Man United is essentially defending all game with five defenders.

14th min.: Long ball into the box by Kevin De Bruyne and it just misses Phil Foden, who was preparing for the volley hit. Man City looks comfortable. Man United can't get on the ball.

7th min.: Goal Manchester City! A Joao Cancelo cross from the left is deflected by Eric Bailly for an own goal. He went for the clearance, but the ball hit his shin and went past David De Gea.

6th min.: Man United chance! Set-piece header from Harry Maguire that finishes high. Maguire beat his marker to that ball from Luke Shaw.

3rd min.: Man City's Bernardo Silva with the first shot of the game and it's high and off target just inside the box. De Bruyne is playing wide right and Phil Foden out left.

1st min.: It's kickoff. Man City get us started.

8:30 a.m.: Managers handshake before a pregame remembrance:

8:27 a.m.: Teams are on the field. We're getting close.

8:19 a.m.: Interesting observation with both Sancho and Grealish on the bench:

7:11 a.m.: Remember those Ronaldo to Man City reports this past summer?

6:58 a.m.: Kevin De Bruyne on manager Pep Guardiola:

6:45 a.m.: Much will be made of Ole Gunnar Solskjaer's stats against Pep Guardiola (4W-3L-1D in eight matches) if Man United manage to stay undefeated for a fifth straight league game:

6:11 a.m.: A few highlights to get the juices flowing in the early morning (if you're a Red Devils fan):

Manchester United vs. Manchester City lineups

The two big absences for Man United are the suspendend Paul Pogba and injured Raphael Varane (hamstring), who came out of the match against Atalanta in midweek and is out for a month. Victor Lindelof was doubtful after missing the Atalanta match, but he's starting in a three-man center back line. Mason Greenwood is the third different forward to pair with Ronaldo this week after Edinson Cavani and Marcus Rashford.

Manchester United starting lineup (3-5-2, left to right): 1-David de Gea-GK — 5-Harry Maguire (c), 2-Victor Lindelof, 3-Eric Bailly — 23-Luke Shaw, 17-Fred, 39-Scott McTominay, 18-Bruno Fernandes, 29-Aaron Wan-Bissaka — 7-Cristiano Ronaldo, 11-Mason Greenwood

Manchester United subs (9): 26-Dean Henderson-GK, 20-Diogo Dalot, 27-Alex Telles, 34-Donny van de Beek, 31-Nemanja Matic, 14-Jesse Lingard, 10-Marcus Rashford, 25-Jadon Sancho, 9-Anthony Martial

Jack Grealish starts his first Manchester derby on the bench. John Stones gets the start at center back in place of the suspended Aymeric Laporte. Kyle Walker was subbed out in the midweek match against Club Brugge with a knock to his foot, he recovered in time for the match. Forward Ferran Torres is still out with a long-term injury.

Manchester City starting lineup (4-3-3, left to right): 31-Ederson-GK — 27-Joao Cancelo, 3-Ruben Dias, 5-John Stones, 2-Kyle Walker — 20-Bernardo Silva, 16-Rodri, 8-Ilkay Gundogan (c) — 47-Phil Foden, 9-Gabriel Jesus, 17-Kevin De Bruyne

Manchester City subs (9): 13-Zack Steffen-GK, 33-Scott Carson-GK, 6-Nathan Ake, 11-Oleksandr Zinchenko, 80-Cole Palmer, 25-Fernandinho, 26-Riyad Mahrez, 7-Raheem Sterling, 10-Jack Grealish

MORE: Updated Champions League group standings & schedule

How to watch Manchester United vs. Manchester City

  • Date: Saturday, Nov. 6
  • Time: 8:30 a.m. ET
  • TV Channels: NBCSN
  • Spanish-language TV: Telemundo, Universo
  • Streaming: fuboTV , DAZN (CA)

The match from Old Trafford will be carried in English (NBCSN) and Spanish (Telemundo, Universo) in the USA.

All three of those channels can be streamed on fuboTV , which offers a free 7-day trial for new users . In Canada, the English Premier League is available exclusively,  live and on-demand, on DAZN . And DAZN offers new customers a 30-day free trial period.

Simon Borg

Simon Borg Photo

Simon Borg is a senior editor at The Sporting News who has covered football/soccer for over a decade. A supporter of Italian club Parma Calcio from his years growing up in Europe, he was previously a long-time member of Major League Soccer's digital media team, as a multimedia content producer, on-air personality, and Editor-in-Chief. Based in New York City, Borg is multilingual and has covered the domestic and global scene for TSN since 2021.