Manchester United suffered a humiliating defeat to city rivals Manchester City bringing back memories of Sir Alex Ferguson’s infamous 2009 quote.
Gone are the days when the Citizens played second fiddle to their noisy neighbors, struggling to have an edge over a domineering Manchester United, who conquered the Premier League under Sir Alex Ferguson.
This was the good old days of Sir Alex Ferguson, who steered Manchester United to unrivaled dominance in the Premier League.
But things have changed. Since resigning from the role years ago, Manchester United has struggled to find their feet.
In his glorious reign at Old Trafford and in the Premier League, Alex Ferguson reportedly made a statement about the Manchester Derby
Recalled by the match commentator, Guy Mowbray, Sir Alex Ferguson had ruled out Manchester City going into the Manchester derby as favorites in his lifetime.
According to Mowbray, Alex Ferguson had reportedly said in 2009 that it is not in his lifetime that the Derby will go the way of Manchester City.
Fast forward to 2022, the order has been overturned most dramatically – the 188th Derby is a point of reference.
Prior to the heavy defeat on Sunday, October 2, 2022, Manchester City had recently built their dominance over Manchester United.
The Pep Guardiola-led team has cashed into Manchester United’s recent struggles and has established their dominance convincingly.
Last season, Manchester City edged past a struggling Manchester United both home and away in their title-winning campaign.
Going into the 188th Derby, not much was expected by Erik Ten Hag’s men. Bookmakers quickly wrote off the team against a brilliant and tactically superior Manchester City side.
The Red Devils went into the game with a four-match unbeaten run, including tongue-wagging wins against Liverpool and Arsenal.
Despite not standing any chance against Manchester City’s firepower, the team was expected to fight vigorously against their rivals, but that was not forthcoming.
It was a free fall for the Red side of Manchester at the Etihad. A rickety squad, jittery and nervous with every move, was already in shambles before the end of the first half.
The scoreline after the first half was a perfect result, well-deserved for Manchester City after the Red Devils did nothing to counter England youngster Phil Foden and Norwegian goal-machine Erling Haaland.
Phil Foden opened the scoring in the 8th minute before Erling Haaland doubled the lead in the 34th minute.
Just three minutes later, the former Dortmund star completed his brace in the first half in the 37th minute.
Phil Foden also completed his first-half brace just a minute before the break, after he scored in the 44th minute to make it 4-0 for the home side.
The game still remained in the hands and control of Manchester City in the second half, with Manchester United doing little to contain the quick and fast attacking drive of their hosts.
Nevertheless, a rare curling wonder from new signing Antony made it 4-1, but Haaland immediately responded 8 minutes to complete his hat-trick.
Foden struck again in the 73rd minute to also complete his hat-trick taking the shoreline to an astonishing 6-1 in the 73rd minutes.
Substitute Anthony Martial was to score a brace in the 84th minute and 90+1 minute to console the team, but the damage was done already.
Manchester United suffered another heavy defeat in the hands of their bitter rivals while Alex Ferguson is alive.
Alex Ferguson left Manchester United in the hands of former Everton manager David Moyes. Since then, things have not turned out well for the team.
Alex Ferguson would not have expected this result when he was in charge of the team.
Despite leaving the team when the ovation was high, his optimism about the future of the club with respect to the Manchester Derby has been faulted.
