The moments you might have missed as Manchester City missed the chance to go into the top four with a dull draw at Manchester United.
Manchester City served up a dire derby with Manchester United in Kevin De Bruyne’s first game since he announced he was leaving.
In a match short of any real chances or moments of quality, both City and United were reduced to long-range efforts or set pieces for a threat. Both sides were missing key players and started defences with multiple players either out of position or ill-suited to the system.
Omar Marmoush came closest for City with a fierce volley and United may rue a couple of chances that didn’t result in a shot. So a goalless draw was the only fair result and the Blues miss the opportunity to leapfrog Chelsea into fourth. For De Bruyne, his farewell to the Manchester derby was instantly forgettable.
These are the moments you may have missed from City’s derby at Old Trafford:
Bruno’s classy gesture
The pre-match story of this derby was all about one man. De Bruyne. The Belgian announced he was leaving City minutes before Pep Guardiola and Ruben Amorim faced the media on Friday and all the talk has been about him since.
Named in the starting XI as captain, De Bruyne led his team out for the warm-ups, although it was Ruben Dias sprinting past him and De Bruyne seemed to like that back seat role.
When City’s starters finished their warm-ups and sprinted back along the Sir Bobby Charlton Stand towards the tunnel, De Bruyne walked most of the way to take in Old Trafford. Passing United players doing the same, Bruno Fernandes stopped his players for a second in order to shake De Bruyne’s hand before leading his team back to the dressing rooms.
That was the end of the niceties, as De Bruyne was jeered as the last player down the tunnel and while City fans sung his name throughout, there was no more special treatment from United.
Guardiola switches up pre-match routine
Pep Guardiola is usually like clockwork before an away game. Shortly after arriving, he leaves his players to their own devices and takes a seat in the away dugout. Sometimes he looked stressed and other times he’s just getting out of the way of the squad. Sometimes he wants to be left alone and others he chats with a coach or member of staff. But at Old Trafford he changed that tried-and-tested routine all together, emerging earlier than usual from the tunnel to boos from United fans.
And instead of taking his seat, he went for a stroll on the pitch, hanging around the halfway line in the sun and chatting to his security guard. He looked calm enough, even while pacing back and forth, and watched his goalkeepers arrive to applause from the early arrivers in the away end.
The last time Guardiola changed his pre-match rituals like this was at Brighton – staring at his players warming up at the Amex Stadium from the touchline while City were at the depths of their losing run and with a defence containing an academy teenager, a full-back out of position in the centre, and an out-of-form right-back. The line-up at United was a little more reliable than that night, but a look at the team sheet would explain Guardiola’s nerves as he watched the warm-ups from afar.
Fans say it all at half-time
By half-time after a strong audition for the worst half in Manchester derby history, even Amorim and Guardiola were sat down with no point of directing any further tactics. And the reaction of the home fans said it all – ironic cheers when John Brooks blew for the interval.
It had been a truly awful 45 minutes and the next 45 weren’t much better. Many had headed for the exits by the time the full time whistle blew. Everybody knew by that stage that neither team deserved more than a point. It was a fitting derby to reflect both side’s under-par seasons.
Pep’s cheeky message to United fans
When the worst derby in recent memory finally ended, it was all smiles among both sets of players. Guardiola had a chat with Luke Shaw, plenty of Reds offered a kind word to De Bruyne, and Jack Grealish made a beeline for the away end having come on in the second half. He offered a quick clap to the City support and headed straight down the tunnel as the handshakes continued in the middle.
Guardiola took Jeremy Doku for one of his on-pitch coaching sessions, and when the rest of the squad were at the away corner, they waited for De Bruyne and parted to allow him a moment with his fans. Guardiola went to all of his players to offer a pat on the head or word of encouragement.
And as he walked back the length of the pitch with Bernardo Silva, discussing something from the game, they were serenaded with ‘You Cheating B——s, you know what you are’ from the Stretford End. Guardiola heard, waited, and then offered a double wave just before heading down into the tunnel.
2025-04-07 06:00:00
