It’s certainly a very old cliche in sports, but you couldn’t ask for a more perfect example than this- “a tale of two halves.” Manchester City went into halftime up 2-0, and it could have easily been 4-0 or 5-0 if not for Raheem Sterling blowing his chances.
However, United rallied to score three goals in the second half and emerge victorious 3-2 in the 176th edition of the Manchester derby. Here in the video below you can see footage of United celebrating at the Etihad. Leading the jubilation, or at least the one who the cameras focus in on the most is Paul Pogba.
You also see Pogba hug City manager Pep Guardiola and have a few words with him,
Ah to be a fly on the wall in that conversation. In the prematch run-up, all the talk was on Pogba, as Pep Guardiola claims the midfielder’s agent, Mino Raiola, offered him to City in January. Pogba claims he was unaware of any such goings on and Raiola says Guardiola is lying.
Today, Pogba was indeed the Pogba who broke the world transfer fee record when he moved back to United from Juventus in 2016 for £89.3 million. He scored two goals in just two minutes, and showed the world the Pogba that United want to see in every match.
Watch footage of all five goals below:
“I didn’t even speak with him about what Pep told and what Raiola told,” Mourinho said in his post match news conference in regards to Pogba.
“I didn’t speak. I’m not interested in if it was Pep or Mino right, I’m not interested in that. I know that Paul played well against Swansea, I know he had a very good week of work, especially Tuesday and Wednesday, two fantastic training sessions and this game comes in that sequence.
“Of course, two goals for a midfield player in a big match like this one stays in the memory of the people, especially the fans.
“He needs that confidence because he knows, I know, he had some performances not at the level of expectation we have from Paul. But he’s improving.”
Pogba articulated the secret to his success tonight.
“I know they love to attack, they don’t like to defend, so I knew I had to get in the box,” the Frenchman explained.
“I know I have Matic behind. You score one goal and your confidence goes up. (Sanchez) always tells me when you pass me the ball, ‘Just make the run, I see you.’
“I give the credit to Michael [Carrick] because every time after the game he shows me the video, make those runs. He has helped me a lot with this, every time after training or every time after a game he will say, ‘It’s very important, nobody can stop you.’ It’s hard to make this run, because you have to stay, you have to control.”
Remember when we brought up all those missed chances by City? Guardiola agrees- he said his side should have been more clinical.
“We made a good game in general especially the first half. But it’s boxes,” Guardiola said at his post match press conference.
“In this level against these rivals, when you have chances you have to score two or three.”
“After you will have bad moments, in the last two games every time they arrive they score a goals. They shoot four times and score three goals and when this happens it’s so complicated. We created enough to score more goals but congratulations to United.”
Paul M. Banks runs The Sports Bank.net and TheBank.News, which is partnered with News Now. Banks, a former writer for the Washington Times, NBC Chicago.com and Chicago Tribune.com, currently contributes regularly to WGN CLTV and the Tribune corporation blogging community Chicago Now.
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