Erling Haaland netted a brace in the second half, securing a comfortable 3-0 win over their city rivals in the Premier League. In front of their home fans, the Citizens put an end to their five-match wait for a victory in less than 90 minutes in this historic derby.
The home team, as expected, started with great impetus and Haaland came close before Gianluigi Donnarumma had to intervene to stop Benjamin Sesko. City’s goal arrived at the 18th minute when Jeremy Doku’s fantastic dribbling opened up space for a cross that Phil Foden used his head to steer the ball beyond Altay Bayındır thus, extending his incredible goal record against United.
Bruno Fernandes tried to answer with a clever free-kick but City’s defense was up to the task and did not allow any chances. Doku, as he showed in the last phase of the match, was once more a game-changer when he gave Haaland a clear shooting opportunity. The Norwegian threw off Luke Shaw and gently lifted the ball over Bayındır to make the score 0-2.
The post was hit by Haaland and then there was the King’s moment in which he mustered all his precision and by way of a poorly played by United intercepted pass he netted nicely from Bernardo Silva’s assist. Donnarumma with a brilliant stop on Bryan Mbeumo denied City’s clean sheet while Reijnders missed a late chance to make the scoreline more flattering.
In essence, the victory gave City’s self-assurance back after they had lost twice in a row and contributed to United being at a low point in the league having gotten only one win out of their last five matches.
