DE BRUYNE’S MAGIC MOMENT

IF there was one goal — one passage of play — that summed up the difference between these two Manchester teams, it was City’s third of a first half that settled this game and underlined just how unbalanced life has become in this great football city. As a rare United forward move broke down in centre field, Jack Grealish carried the ball into opposition territory. Seeing the danger but not realising it was his job to close it down, Christian eriksen took two steps away and then, far too late, tried to make up ground towards the ball.

Grealish, with time and space, fed possession right to Kevin De Bruyne… and then the magic began.

City’s Belgian— once upon a time their most feted player — had three options as he moved to within 25 yards of goal.

the most obvious pass was to his right, to the overlapping full back. the second-best option seemed to be to take a shot. But this being De Bruyne, and this being City, the 31-year- old chose the most unlikely and by far the most difficult option.

to reach erling haaland at the far post, De Bruyne’s right-footed cross had to bypass two United defenders and then, most difficult of all, find that elusive channel between the goalkeeper and a covering red shirt.

It had to be perfect and, of course, it was. haaland, sliding with foot outstretched, rammed the ball into the goal and this game was done.

It was a City goal that said everything about them and much about United, too. everything City do under Pep Guardiola (below) is underpinned by hard work. For all De Bruyne’s excellence, there is no goal unless haaland makes the most of every physical attribute he possesses to reach the ball.

For some United players, maximum effort continues to look like an option, particularly when things aren’t going well. Sadly, there was more evidence of that here.

As haaland celebrated the second of his three goals in front of thee United supporters, his father hugged friends inn the posh seats. Alf-Inge nge was never as talented as his s boy. Nowhere near. he did know how to put in a shift, though, and that is one attribute he can n claim to have e passed down the he family line.

that was the big goal, the thirdd one. this is a United team who

remain flawed but capable of scoring goals. they were wretched here and still managed to hit three. So at 2-0 down they were technically in the game, but at 3-0 the contest — such as it had been — was dead.

And as the haaland family did their thing in different parts of the stadium, a number of United supporters left their seats and headed back into town. When their team’s football is as bad as this, the pub is a far more attractive option.

City were magnificent here. their first 45 minutes stands as one of the best halves of football under Guardiola. With United manager erik ten hag having left his back four dreadfully exposed by fielding a holding pair of eriksen and Scott Mctominay, City had acres of space in which to work. Nevertheless, there was something about the desperate hunger of City’s football that was impressive even to those of us who have become familiar with it over recent years. haaland and De Bruyne were irresistible, but so too was Phil Foden. Watching the 22-year- old play with such incisiveness, energy and confidence, it was hard to reconcile that with two wholly indifferent shifts contributed to the england cause at Wembley and the San Siro in the previous nine days. that, though, is a problem for national boss Gareth Southgate to consider and solve. For City, Foden breached the 50-goal mark on one of his best afternoons in a club shirt.

For long periods, United were drowning; utterly incapable of competing with City. In playing so poorly, they confirmed what many still suspect about them. this group are capable of winning big games. they showed that under Ole Gunnar Solskjaer. Still, though, theyth can collapse when mmatches start to go babadly. ththe way they conceded cedconceded three quick gogoals towards the eend of the first half here was reminiscent of the 44- 0 defeat at BBrentford in AAugust. these two dedefeats book- end winwins over Liverpool and Arsenal at Old trafford, and the awardingaw of the September manager of the month award to ten hag. And that’s United in a nutshell. Sometimes it does come down to desire. Individual battles can lay the platform for victory or otherwise. United lost far too many battles. haaland left eriksen and Mctominay in a daze as he headed in his first goal and his team’s second. Shortly after coming on, the Brazilian Casemiro was outmuscled by Bernardo Silva. the score was 4-1 to City at the time, but still the home team showed the greater hunger.

United won the second half, which was weird. their two late goals were cheered ironically by City fans. Soon haaland and Foden were squabbling over the match ball like toddlers. From somewhere, a spare appeared. honours even for those in blue at least. Between blue and red, the imbalance has long been apparent and it remains.