The brilliant forward vindicated his coach’s eye-catching selection calls as the Red Devils staged a miraculous late turnaround on enemy territory
Ruben Amorim claimed last month that Pep Guardiola signing a new contract with Manchester City was ‘a problem for everybody’ but on recent evidence the Portuguese has nothing to worry about when it comes to his opposite number.
Before kick off City fans paid tribute to their embattled boss with a massive banner bearing the message ‘More than a coach’, but by full-time in a hugely dramatic Manchester derby it was the name of Amorim that was booming around the Etihad Stadium.
The Portuguese coach made a real statement when he did not include Marcus Rashford and Alejandro Garnacho in the squad and his team made a statement on the pitch too, with no player standing out more than Amad Diallo, who almost single-handedly turned the game on its head, winning the penalty which allowed Bruno Fernandes to equalise and then scoring the winner less than a minute later.
This was a ransacking that brought back memories of United’s 3-2 comeback win at City under Jose Mourinho and even had shades of their most famous win ever, in the 1999 Champions League final against Bayern Munich.
Josko Gvardiol’s opening goal brought more scrutiny on United’s woeful defending from set pieces but overall this was a fine display from the Red Devils’ backline, with Harry Maguire leading the way and blunting Erling Haaland. There is still a lot of work for Amorim to do and it will be fascinating to see how Rashford and Garnacho respond to being discarded for the biggest fixture of all.
But right now the Portuguese is not just the boss of United, he is the boss of Manchester itself.
GOAL breaks down the winners & losers from the Etihad Stadium…