MAN UTD 0, MAN CITY 0
Manchester United dented their neighbours’ prospects of finishing in the top four after a dour goalless draw in the 196th derby, an eminently forgettable affair.
The two points fifth-placed City surrendered could come back to bite them in what is turning out to be a frantic scramble for Champions League places.
There are only three points separating the fourth and seventh placed teams which underlines City still have work to do if they are to qualify for Europe’s elite competition – it looks like England will get five clubs instead of the usual four for the 2025/26 campaign.
While there was a lack of quality on the pitch, there was more drama after the final whistle as disgruntled United fans stage a sit-in in protest about the running of the club.
Banners were unfurled such as ‘RIP Fan Culture 1878-2025’ and ‘Your debt, not ours’.
United would be the happier with the point in what has been a forgettable season to them.
Head coach Ruben Amorim answered criticisms by former Red Gary Neville who claimed it lacked the passion of previous battles comparing it more to a “love-in”.
Amorim said: “We are having the worst season in the club’s history and City are not having the best season, so it was not the best spectacle.
“You have to look at the context of the game – before when the teams were fighting for titles and that changes the game completely.
“The feeling of winning, not being able to lose one point, that feeling is not here. As the coach it’s hard to say that. We need to fight for big things, if we do then the feeling will be completely different.”
“I think we had some chances to win the game. We tried to use the space in transitions, defending in a low block, but we had our chances.
“We had some moments with the ball, we pushed City into their half, we were closer to a goal, but we can accept a draw. We were closer to the goal, they had more possession but that is normal.”
Embed from Getty ImagesAmorim, asked what United need to improve, said: “I’m not naive or crazy, I can see the moment we are in, I can look at the opponents and understand there is a big gap, but as a leader I cannot say we are going to take all of the time to close the gap.
“Even if we bring in more players we have to hurry and show urgency to do better because we don’t have much time at a club like this. We are in a rush.
“We have so many aspects to improve. Everywhere we need to improve in every aspect, build up, transition, decisions in the final third.
“Every player can improve. They are here because they showed something at other cubs. They have the quality, we are still a team that plays on transition, we need to spend more time in final third to have more opportunities.”
City manager Pep Guardiola, who has failed to beat Amorim in three meeting this season, blasted the United fans who directed personal abuse at City’s Phil Foden saying they “lacked class” but it is symptomatic of what happens elsewhere.
On the game, he added: “It would have been better to win, but it is Old Trafford which is difficult, and it is a derby. We will take the point and move on.
“It was a tight game. They had chances, we had chances as well. The only problem is we moved too much with the ball and lacked fluidity.”
Harry Maguire and Rasmus Hojlund returned to the United starting line-up as Joshua Zirkzee dropped to the bench and Mattijs de Ligt missed out through injury.
Luke Shaw was back on the bench for the first time since December. Teenage striker Chido Obi was also involved on the bench.
Kevin De Bruyne started his 22nd and final Manchester derby, one of four changes to the side that defeated Leicester on Wednesday.
Foden, Bernardo Silva and Mateo Kovacic were also included. Jack Grealish, Savinho and Jeremy Doku dropped to the bench.
There was a dramatic start as Alejandro Garnacho broke clear and was brought down on the edge of the box by Ruben Dias, who was booked, with only 30 seconds played.
Bruno Fernandes fired the free kick into the defensive wall as United looked to make an early breakthrough.
City soon settled as they imposed their authority but never looked like scoring.
Foden cut in from the right before firing narrowly wide and De Bruyne shot straight at keeper Andre Onana.
United enjoyed a spell when they created decent openings only to be let down by the final pass or touch. With a clinical cutting edge, they would have been ahead.
Ilkay Gundogan shot narrowly wide from distance and Fernandes fired straight at Ederson as it was pretty tame for a usual feisty derby.
The quality of the second half did not improve and the first changes were made in the 57th minute as Maguire was replaced by Victor Lindelof whole for City Foden made way for Jeremy Doku.
Lindelof quicky gave away a free kick and Omar Marmoush bent the dead ball over the defensive wall and forced Onana to make a flying save to punch the ball to safety.
Marmoush soon had another excellent effort after a corner was cleared to him 25 yards out and his first-time rocket was fisted out by Onana.
Manuel Ugarte then fired narrowly wide from 20 yards as the game finally sparked to life.
Amorim made two further changes with 19 minutes left as Hojlund and Ugarte made way for Joshua Zirkzee and Mount.
City soon followed with a further two as Gundogan and O’Reilly were replaced by Grealish and Rico Lewis.
Zirkzee almost made an immediate impact as he forced a great save from Ederson following a cut back from Patrick Dorgu before the game petered out into stalemate.