Manchester City annihilates Manchester United in the Manchester Derby

Manchester United were outclassed and outplayed in the 166th Manchester Derby today. City won by 4-1 courtesy a brace from Sergio Aguero and goals from Yaya Toure and Samir Nasri. Wayne Rooney got a late consolation for United.

City seemed to have gained a morale booster as soon as they heard the news of Robin van Persie missing out of the tie due to groin strain and dominated the match right from the word go. Their relentless pressure finally bore fruit in the 16th minute as left back Alexander Kolarov whipped in a dangerous cross from the left towards Sergio Aguero and Aguero did the rest by hitting a stunning volley past David De Gea. City continued to press and right at the stroke of half time they managed to make it 2-0. Zabaleta won a late corner. Nasri delivered a juicy ball towards Negredo, who did well to beat Smalling to the ball and although his header wasn’t on target, Toure popped up to steer the ball into the goal thereby sending the City supporters into delirium.

After the break, the City assault continued and on 47th minute Aguero got his second of the night and City’s third when the United defence seemed to doze off and Alvaro Negredo crossed the ball to Aguero who made no mistake in putting the ball into the net. And in the 50th minute it was game over for United as Samir Nasri got into the score sheet to make it 4-0 for City. Jesus Navas bombed down the right as an army of City players races up to join him. The United defence was again found wanting as Navas’ cross found Nasri who volleyed home for 4-0.

It seemed like City would run riot and break their previous best winning margin of 6-1 which they had achieved back in 2011 but United managed to hold on and avoid any further goals. In the 87th minute, Wayne Rooney managed to get a consolation goal and make the score slightly more respectable for United as he curled a delightful free kick beyond Hart into the top corner.

Thus it was a great first derby win for City boss Manuel Pellegrini and heartbreak for David Moyes as he is left with plenty to ponder about what went wrong today.