Jose’s Devils pips Guardiola’s Citizens 1-0

NEW DELHI: Jose Mourinho’s Manchester United defeated arch rivals Manchester City, courtesy a second-half strike by Juan Mata, to reach the quarter-finals of the League Cup at Old Trafford.

United will next play West Ham United, who pulled through an upset defeating Chelsea 2-1 to make it to the quarter-finals. The derby was the second of the season, the previous being in the Premier League where United lost to the Citizens 2-1. The win came at the cost of Rashford for United as the England star limped off the ground in the 82nd minute. With Eric Bailly, Wayne Rooney and Chris Smalling already nursing their injuries, this added to the injury woes of Jose Mourinho. While most thought, with the arrival of Mourinho Mata will be the first to leave considering their relationship at Chelsea, the Spanish has gone on to be an integral part of Jose’s squad at United.

In the 54th minute, Mata drove a low strike past Willy Caballero in the corner from a pull-back by Zlatan Ibrahimovic. The goal proved to be the winner as City failed to make an impact on the game.

The first half of the game was a lacklustre display by both the teams as none produced any close moments except one for Kelechi Iheanacho. Early in the game, Iheanacho headed over from six yards. The city rivals failed to put a single shot on target in the entire half.

Coming into the second half, the game saw a bit more movement and subsequently, in the 49th minute, United displayed some intricate and quick passing but Pogba’s final shot from the left was tipped off on the post by Caballero. Much of the match went around in the midfield with the players of either teams unable to produce much. Despite Guardiola bringing Raheem Sterling and Sergio Aguero as substitutes to pump up the City attack, they hardly made any difference to the flow of the game.