On a historic night in Houston, the first Manchester Derby outside of the UK was a match full of contrasts. The first half both teams played with what it should be for the most part their starting lineups when the Premier League starts in August. As it was expected, this match was not a normal preseason friendly, it was a derby where both teams wanted it to win. Moreover, this was showed by Manchester United as they scored two goals in the first 45-minutes. Romelu Lukaku and Marcus Rashford, who is an exciting young talent, scored for the Red Devils to give another reason to celebrate to around 40,000 Man U fans that attended the match. On the other side, around 25,000 Manchester City’s fans were disappointing the Citizens were not able to score despite having some chances.      

In the second half, everything changed. The teams started substituting some of its main players. Although both teams have very talented players in the bench, the quality of the match was not as good as the first one. Pep Guardiola and Jose Mourinho also decided to give some minutes to youngsters who are trying to get a spot in their first teams.

Analyzing how Manchester United played this match is quite simple.  They played a solid match in all their lines. Even though they are still in preseason, they are in an extraordinary form. It is important to mention that this was their third match in their USA tour. They seemed fast and strong, which is something unusual to see during a team’s preseason. New Red Devil’s players seemed to be adapted already to the system and game plan coach Jose Mourinho has for his team. The midfield leaded by Paul Pogba and Ander Herrera give Man Utd the balanced necessary a team needs, which characterized Mourinho’s coaching style.

On the other hand, Manchester City is still trying to get in playing rhythm. This was their first match of the preseason in the USA, and obviously they still need to work to get in perfect form to compete at the max level in the Premier and Champions League. As last season, they struggled in the last third, but with players such as ‘Kun’ Aguero and Gabriel Jesus, the goals will start coming.     

Overall this derby in Houston was an opportunity to fans to experience a quality game as well as to celebrate their love for soccer.  

All photos are courtesy of Jose Castellanos.