The last time these two heavyweights faced off in the league it was but matchday 5. Fans were debating about whether a 35-year-old Zlatan Ibrahimovic could lead the line for a team with title aspirations, big money signing Claudio Bravo was about to make his Manchester City debut amidst much (retrospectively hilarious, we know) fanfare and Kelechi Iheanacho was on the cusp of becoming a household name.
‘City strike the first blow in the title race,’ is the headline that most of the daily rags ran with on the 10th of September 2016. Fast Forward seven months and City’s dysfunctional season is about to end sans a trophy of any sort. Champions League Football is all but assured but with six games to go, there are more questions than answers surrounding the blue half of Manchester.
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Much is said about the increased relevance of the Manchester Derby in recent years, what with the Citizen’s Middle Eastern sized bank account and United’s global brand recall lending the fixture an air of being the final word in English Football. However, in the context of the current season, this match is truly important for only one reason; safe passage to the RIGHT European competition for next season.
Bragging rights have their rightful place in the football universe and on the streets of Manchester, but if one or both of these Mancunian giants miss out on Champions League Football, supporters will sharpie ‘disasterous’ rather than ‘disappointing’ onto the Season Review DVD sticker.
That being said, there are a few reasons (Five because that’s how we roll in Sportskeeda) why Manchester City can use this fixture to make a late season statement of intent. Without further ado, here we go.
#1 Because the Blue Moon is in danger of rising no further
Never mind their talented youngsters, their world-class scouting network, their lucrative sponsorship deals, their uber secretive mission to have a feeder club for Manchester City in every league in the world and their investment in a world class infrastructure, Manchester City, for fans of the Premier League of this generation at least, will always be the lesser of the two clubs in comparison. Cue the ‘Emptihad’ jokes.
Yes, this decade has given City fans the ‘Aguerooooountoinfinity’ moment, but this season has provided them with nothing but heartache and an uneasy feeling that the ceiling may be lower than they thought it would be.
Champions League ignominy has been complemented by a title push so weak that it didn’t even have to wait for the ides of March to put it out. An age-ing squad with two, maybe three world beaters, have failed to win when it matters.
The Manchester Derby is the perfect chance for Manchester City to give the Red Devils the blues (pun intended). For some players, it will be their swansong (read Yaya Toure), for others a chance to prove that it was wrong to doubt them in the first place (read Kun Aguero) and most importantly for a bunch, it will be nothing but the opportunity for the slightest of redemption (read every other player barring David Silva).
This expensively assembled squad needs to prove that it can win and look good while doing it. Never a better time to do that than against the old enemy.
#2 Pep Guardiola vs Jose Mourinho
Ex-Manager of Europe’s Greatest Club ™ vs Ex Managed of Europe’s Greatest Club ™. They’ve never really liked each other, have they? To be fair Mourinho has done very little to get under Guardiola’s skin this season, probably because the Spaniard is on course to finish his first trophyless season as a Manager. But that doesn’t mean that both managers wouldn’t have spent the last few days analysing and re-analysing their opponents strengths and weaknesses to gain even the slightest of tactical upper hands in this fixture.
For a competitive Premier League and a riveting narrative, this league needs the two old dogs to be at each other’s throats. A less than stellar season for Manchester City has ensured that this deeply personal rivalry has become, for now, dormant. Guardiola needs this win to remind Mourinho that there was a rivalry in the first place.
Just in case you are reading this Pep, here’s a beauty from 2014. “Kim Kardashian could win the Bundesliga with Bayern. I’m serious. There is no challenge in Germany. She could play Kanye West in the holding role and achieve similar points to Mr Guardiola.” A 3-0 win in his favour and maybe Guardiola can compare Guardiola and Arteta(?) to a power couple of your choice.
#3 Sergio Aguero
Has anyone this hardworking and talented been treated this unfairly by his club and national teams? Sergio Aguero is the living embodiment of everything that is right with the modern day footballer. He shows up and goes to work. He has a work ethic that only a select few in world football can boast of. He bangs in the goals and leads by example. Yet, seemingly hoisted by his own petard, Guardiola decided that the diminutive Argentinian could not feature as the man up front in his new ‘system’.
In retrospect, Pep was right. As a fan of football I wouldn’t want El Kun to be in a system that involves the goalkeeper giving the ball away to the opposition three times on average a game, where the full-backs channel their inner Jack Reacher and ‘never go back’, where you turn one of Europe’s most coveted centre-backs into a nervy mess and Fernando and Fabian Delph get actual minutes. Like actual match minutes. Let that sink in. Fernando and Fabian Delph get to play in the midfield for a team with title ambitions.
Anyhow, the dumbest of all modern football experiments lasted a mere four games and Aguero has since found his way back into Guardiola’s plans. Since then Kun has scored six goals in eleven since being reinstated.
Even if this match is nothing but a glorified audition for a potential suitor as he counts down his days in powder blue, discount Sergio at your own peril. And with United’s injury woes in the defensive department, Maradona’s favourite Argentinian must be chomping at the bit, waiting for kickoff.
#4 Manchester United weak at the knees
These are the players who will not feature at this Manchester Derby. Paul Labile Pogba, Zlatan Ibrahimovic, Chris Smalling, Marcos Rojo, Phil Jones and Juan Mata. Lose comprehensively to this makeshift United team and in this author’s opinion, it may be time to take a few players behind the barn and put them out of their misery.
According to my esteemed colleague Soumalya Moitra, the Manchester United backline for this game is going to be Valencia, Bailly, Blind and Darmian. Blind has played 165 minutes of Premier League football through March and April. Darmian has 181 in the same period. Coordination will be an issue.
With Leroy Sane slowly taking to life in the Premier League, Aguero in peak-ish form, Jesus Navas hugging the touchline and Kevin De Bruyne pulling the strings, Manchester City look like they are in a position to tear Manchester United a brand new one. Anything short of an emphatic victory should be considered a moral defeat.
Manchester City have their own defensive woes, but as long as they stay on the front foot and pass it around with pace, breaching Manchester United’s defence should not be a problem.
#5 The Race for Europe
Let’s begin with absolutes. Champions League football next season is of the utmost importance to both clubs. Not only because of the additional revenue it brings in but also because success in the competition is the real mark of true success during a Manager’s reign (Just ask Arsenal fans). It allows you to shop for players anywhere in Europe and increases your club’s visibility as a brand. It is Europe’s premier competition and it is where managerial legacies are built.
With Liverpool currently engaged in performing their best collective impression of 1989, three Champions League spots are technically still up for grabs with Liverpool, Manchester City, Manchester United, Arsenal and Everton being the interested parties. Failure to qualify for the tournament will be considered disastrous for all of the clubs except Everton.
This means that every victory and subsequent three points picked up by any of these teams will greatly diminish the chances of the others. A win for either club in the derby will not only consolidate their place in the top four but also result in the loser looking nervously at the teams below them in the table rather than the ones above.
A comprehensive loss could greatly damage the psyche and a Manchester United collapse could mean no Champions League football, no Griezmann, another year where Pogba exists almost permanently under the media microscope and further damage the Mourinho brand.
Wouldn't it please Manchester City and Pep Guardiola to bits if they instigated the collapse? A false dawn yet again at United?
“We were the ones who killed the sun,” Pep would share with close friends and family over the course of the offseason, with the beginnings of a smile on his face.
