Goals: Manchester City—Aguero 63’
Recap: Ninety minutes of highly contested football saw Manchester City capture a 1-0 victory over Manchester United on Sunday.
Despite a frantic first half, both clubs entered the break scoreless. Holding a man advantage, City’s breakthrough came 18 minutes after the break. An inch-perfect through-ball from Yaya Toure allowed Gael Clichy to deliver pull-back service to Sergio Aguero. The Argentine left zero doubts with his finish.
The scoreline was flattering for the visitors, who benefited from three missed penalty shouts from referee Michael Oliver.
Key Moment: Chris Smalling did Manchester United zero favors on Sunday. Already on a yellow for an immature challenge on Joe Hart, the 24-year-old doubled down on his poor decision making in the 39th minute. A rash tackle on James Milner forced the official to give the young defender his marching orders. United held for the remainder of the first half, but an 11-man City proved to be too much on the afternoon.
Man of the Match: Toure left his footprints on every big chance City created in their 1-0 victory. The 31-year-old finished with an assist and a 93 percent pass completion.
Lesson Learned: Manchester United are the soccer equivalent of a bodybuilder that never works out his legs. The club, prominent moving forward, has no foundation to build on from the back. In 39 minutes, Smalling finished with two yellow cards, two fouls, one red card and zero tackles. His teammates didn’t fare any better, forcing goalkeeper David De Gea to stand on his head on numerous occasions. Until the club’s glaring flaw is addressed, fervent supporters will need to rely on past glory for relevancy.
Up Next: Manchester City return home to face CSKA Moscow in UEFA Champions League play on Nov. 5, while Manchester United host Crystal Palace in league play on Nov. 8.
Note: Credit all statistics to officially licensed data from Opta Sports (via Squawka).
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