Premier League: Trailing till 88th min, Ruben Amorim’s Manchester United secure dramatic comeback win vs City

Manchester City’s horror run continued as they lost to their arch-rivals Manchester United despite leading the match till the 88th minute on Sunday, December 15. City collapsed once again on Sunday, at their own home, losing their third Premier League game in a row.

Leading till the 88th minute via a Josko Gvardiol goal in the first half, City went down courtesy of a penalty from Bruno Fernandes and then a last-gasp goal from Amad Diallo in the final minutes of the regulation time. Despite controlling the tempo for the better part of the second half, City were punished for losing their concentration late into the second half.

For the longest time, it seemed that Ruben Amorim had gotten things terribly wrong, having snubbed Marcus Rashford and Alejandro Garnacho for the high-profile clash. However, United hung in till the very end and secured – what is surely the most famous and dramatic victory in Amorim’s short career at United.

The opening came in the 88th minute, when defender Matheus Nunes tried to pass the ball back to keeper Ederson in the midfield. The ball was intercepted by a rapid Amad Diallo, who drove the ball into the penalty box and smartly waited for the keeper to come at him.

As Diallo stood just inside the edge of the box, Nunes panicked and overcompensated for his mistake. He tried to stomp the ball out of Diallo’s feet but ended up catching the player instead. This resulted in a penalty and the kick was driven home by none other than Bruno Fernandes.

The event made a tectonic shift in the mood of the game as City looked absolutely shattered and scared of holding the ball at their feet. Poor clearance once again resulted in a chance for the bullet Amad, who drove into the box, stole the bouncing ball and slotted past a clean low shot from left side of the post.

While dramatic, the events were also comical, given United had not even registered a single shot on target till the 62nd minute of the game. At that time, it was once again Amad, who forced an excellent diving save from Ederson, having headed the ball low into the right corner from inside the box.

MAN CITY’S WORRYING SLUMP

What was initially a worrying slump in form by champions City has now snowballed into a full-on nightmare before Christmas for Pep Guardiola’s side as they have now lost eight of their last 11 games in all competitions, winning one. They stay fifth in the table with 27 points from 16 games, nine points behind leaders Liverpool having played a game more.

United remain in the bottom half with 22 points but will hope their smash-and-grab raid at The Etihad Stadium will spark a move up the table during the festive period.

Fernandes breathed a sigh of relief after the game, having missed a gilt-edged chance to equalise shortly before Diallo lit the touch-paper for United’s stunning win.

“He’s been doing well, he’s been doing great things, I think there’s still a lot to come from him … When he’s like this, he’s unstoppable,” the Portuguese midfielder said.

City did not even muster a shot on target in the second half as they looked barely recognisable from the side that has won four successive Premier League crowns. Midfielder Bernardo Silva made no attempt to sugar-coat a gut-wrenching loss.

“We totally deserved what happened,” he told Sky Sports. “In minute 87 in a derby and you are winning 1-0 and have a corner and the ball ends up as a penalty for them, if you make these stupid decisions you deserve to pay for that.”

SCRAPPY GAME

Neither side started the game brimming with any fluency after bleak recent results and United did not have a shot on target before the interval. Amorim flexed his muscles ahead of kick-off, leaving Marcus Rashford and Alejandro Garnacho out of his matchday squad and he was then forced to make an early switch as Mason Mount hobbled off after 14 minutes to be replaced by Kobbie Mainoo.

It took 20 minutes for City to muster a shot at goal as Phil Foden’s half-volley went wide while at the other end Diallo struck the post with a shot but was offside anyway.

City’s fans were becoming restless but the tension lifted around the stadium in the 36th minute when, from a short corner, De Bruyne’s cross was deflected and dropped invitingly for Gvardiol to guide a header past Andre Onana. It was the eighth goal United have conceded from a corner this season, a figure only topped by Wolverhampton Wanderers.

Tempers boiled over soon afterwards as City’s Kyle Walker and Rasmus Hojland came together like two rutting stags and Walker fell theatrically to the ground, earning both players yellow cards after a melee involving several more.

City were strangely subdued after the break but still looked like taking the points, especially after Fernandes dinked a golden chance wide after being played through.

But City’s world collapsed around them when Nunes’s terrible back pass was seized upon by Diallo and Nunes desperately tried to make amends but merely hacked Diallo down.

Fernandes tucked away the penalty but worse was still to come for the hosts as Diallo sprinted through, cleverly dinked the ball around goalkeeper Ederson and then saw his shot dissect two covering defenders before nestling in the net.

“The second half, we pressed good, we wanted to win, this is the derby … we showed today we can win every game and we are very happy to win today,” said Diallo. “I want to thank God for this. Let’s enjoy it for today and focus on the next game.”

(With inputs from Reuters)