By Michael Odegbe
Pep Guardiola didn’t mince his words. Manchester City were dominated, outplayed, and exhausted, while a motivated Manchester United sealed a 2-0 derby victory at Old Trafford, inflicting another blow to City’s Premier League title hopes.
The defeat means City have failed to win four league matches in 2026 and are seven points behind Arsenal, who still have a game in hand, a worrying loss for a team accustomed to chasing perfection.
On a night that clearly belonged to United, Bryan Mbeumo and Patrick Dorgu found the net, while the Red Devils conceded three more goals to marginal offsides, underlining their dominant position.
It was also a match-winning performance in the first match under Michael Carrick, in which United produced what many have hailed as their best performance of the season.
Guardiola, clearly frustrated, delivered a brutally honest assessment after the final whistle.
“The better team won,” he said. “We weren’t at the level required to win this match. We were lacking in many areas. They were better. They had an energy that we didn’t have.”
City could have been grateful that the result wasn’t more severe, and there was some initial controversy when Diogo Dalot avoided a red card for a foul on Jeremy Doku in the first 10 minutes.
Guardiola admitted that the incident could have warranted a sending-off, but he refused to hide his feelings about the refereeing decisions.
“Was it a red card? Yes,” he admitted.
“But it would be unfair for me, as manager, to blame the red card. Would it have changed the game? Who knows.”
“If the players are using that as an excuse, then we have a serious problem.”
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