The 175th Manchester derby ended in a win for Man City, but there are many interesting stories behind it.
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| "Santa Claus" Mangala.The French centre-back was called in by Pep Guardiola to warm up immediately after Nicholas Otamendi made it 2-1. Fernandinho was now playing centre-back and Man City needed to strengthen their defence. The Spanish coach decided to take off one of the strikers, Gabriel Jesus. |
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| With the sub-zero temperatures in Manchester, several players wore hats on the bench, including Eliaquim Mangala and Bernardo Silva. Guardiola seemed unhappy with his player's tardiness, grabbing Mangala's Santa Claus hat and throwing it to the ground as he warmed up on the sidelines. |
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| Wearing a scarf incorrectly "can get you arrested".Fans are no longer in favour of wearing scarves with two teams on them, especially at derby matches. Manchester Police were alerted to the sale of scarves outside Old Trafford via Twitter, and responded with humour that they “may consider making an arrest if necessary”. |
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| Man Utd gradually lost ground in derby matches.There was a time when the Old Trafford team dominated against Man City, but that has changed. The "Red Devils" have lost eight of their last 13 matches, winning just three times. In the previous 45 matches, Man Utd won 22 times and lost just seven times. |
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| Guardiola asserts his superiority when competing with Mourinho.The 2-1 victory on the evening of December 10 helped Guardiola have his ninth victory in 20 matches against his Portuguese colleague. This number is only four for Mourinho. The former Real Madrid coach has not been able to improve his head-to-head record since the La Liga matches when he led Real Madrid against Barca. |
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| Mourinho and Guardiola move closer together.Relations between the two sides have warmed since the return leg of last season's Premier League match. In the match on December 10, the two sides moved closer to talk while Marcos Rojo and David Silva were receiving treatment after a collision at the end of the first half. "I wonder if they were talking about professional matters, or about exchanging gifts for Christmas?", the Daily Mail humorously asked. |
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| De Gea's girlfriend predicted correctly.Singer Edurne Garcia posted a photo of herself wearing a fur coat on Twitter with the caption: "A cold derby." That was true both in the weather and the way the game played after 90 minutes. De Gea's side lost and the gap to the top team widened to 11 points. |
According to VNE
