Karanka savours special moment at City

NO ONE will have savoured the fact that Middlesbrough’s 1-1 draw with Manchester City at the Etihad Stadium followed just four days after Barcelona’s 3-1 defeat there more than visiting manager Aitor Karanka.

As Jose Mourinho’s assistant at Real Madrid, the Spaniard sat opposite Pep Guardiola in many “Clasicos” and added spice to the build-up at the Etihad Stadium by suggesting that his former boss was superior to City’s manager in most respects.

But Karanka is starting to earn his own plaudits with Middlesbrough following last season’s promotion and now successive away draws at Arsenal and City.

The normally deadpan Boro manager was almost animated at the end of the game after Martin de Roon equalised with a stoppage-time header, hailing his team’s resilience in turning the game round.

Karanka must take credit for changing the course of a game in which City had 19 chances on target in the first half and none in the second.

“It was an amazing result because in the first half we went on to the pitch with too much respect for them,” said Karanka, whose side rose to 14th in the table.

“I told them at halftime we weren’t just there to defend and that we could play like we did in the second half. I was pleased with our performance.

“Two weeks ago at Arsenal was more difficult than today because Arsenal didn’t score and we were organised. Our reaction was really good and it is a big step to showing how good we are.” – Reuters