Ruben Amorim will take charge of a Manchester derby at Old Trafford for the first time
This Sunday will mark Ruben Amorim’s first Manchester derby at Old Trafford as Manchester United take on Manchester City in the Premier League.
Amorim has already tasted derby success back in December, with late heroics thanks to Amad in a 1-2 comeback victory at the Etihad Stadium.
But, with this being his first at the Theatre of Dreams, let’s take a look at how each Manchester United manager, since Sir Alex Ferguson, fared on their first derby game at Old Trafford.
Erik Ten Hag (2-1, January 14 2023)
Just after a month his side won the Carabao Cup, Erik Ten Hag’s side were huge underdogs going into the game against the league leaders at the time.
A tight affair ended with the first half finishing 0-0 but the United faithful fearing for the worst. And those fears were confirmed as Jack Grealish ghosted in from the back post with uncharacteristic header, firing the blues into the lead in the 60th minute.
Although, all was not lost; an offside flag from the assistant referee delayed the United celebrations in the 78th minute, as Bruno Fernandes equalised. A VAR check deemed that Marcus Rashford didn’t interfere with play so, the goal stood, and City fans were livid.
To rub salt into the wounds, Alejandro Garnacho squared the ball to Rashford, across the six-yard box, to win the game in the 82nd minute.
Ole Gunnar Solskjaer (0-2, April 24 2019)
A miserable day for Ole Gunnar Solskjaer in his first Manchester derby at Old Trafford, as he tended to find winning games against City at the Etihad much easier.
Goals from Bernardo Silva and Leroy Sane in the second half was more than enough to seal a comfortable win for City. Silva did well to create his own space, shifting the ball quickly out of his feet, and arrowing the ball into De Gea’s near post.
Sane did something similar but from the other side of the box. Instead of showing off some of that Silva trickery, he went more direct and fired the ball straight towards De Gea, but it was too powerful for the Spaniard to keep out.
Jose Mourinho (1-2, September 10 2016)
This also happened to be Pep Guardiola’s very first Manchester derby. An intense first half saw all three goals and was a showcase for Kevin De Bruyne’s extraordinary talents.
It also brought out the worst of former City goalkeeper Claudio Bravo, and may have been the game to confirm his demise. De Bruyne shot City in front after a quarter of an hour after he latched onto Kelechi Iheanacho’s flick on from a long ball, and placed it past De Gea.
The two City players combined again for the second, but this time in reverse as the Belgian’s shot from long range found the inside of the post and bounced straight back to Iheanacho, who hasn’t scored many easier goals in his career.
The immortalised words of “Zlatan Ibrahimovic, he is a Swedish hero…” rang round Old Trafford that day as he scored for the Reds just before half-time.
Ibrahimovic pounced on Bravo’s fumble and showed the most exquisite technique to volley the ball into the net from long range. United fans awaited a showdown in the second half, but were left underwhelmed when their team couldn’t do enough.
There were strong penalty shouts when Bravo tried to make up for a mistake and slid in hard on Wayne Rooney, which left many fans leaving with a bitter taste in their mouth.
Louis Van Gaal (4-2, April 12 2015)
Some United fans would argue this as one of the greatest Manchester derbies in history. An enthralling game which was end-to-end (not something which was typically associated with Louis Van Gaal’s United) finished 4-2 in a six-goal thriller.
Sergio Aguero opened and closed the game with two tap-in goals, after some well worked interplay. But United managed to score four within that time, with four different players delivering the goods. Ashley Young, Marouane Fellaini, Juan Mata and Chris Smalling were the unlikely names on the scoresheet.
David Moyes (0-3, March 25 2014)
Unsurprisingly, David Moyes didn’t win his first Manchester derby at Old Trafford. Bosnian striker Edin Dzeko scored early in both the first and second halves, with the first inside sixty seconds.
There was no response from United as Yaya Toure scored a third in stoppage time to compile the misery. On top of that, Fellaini was lucky to stay on the field that day, as he was booked for elbowing Pablo Zabaleta after half an hour.
If United had gone down to 10 men, that game could have ended as a cricket score. Manchester City fans were sure to pull out their classic “Poznan” celebration that day as the David Moyes era was coming to an end.