Manchester City ran absolute riot as Erling Haaland and Phil Foden both netted hat-tricks in a memorable 6-3 win over Manchester United.
Manchester City started by far the brighter of the two, and went ahead in just the eighth minute. Having started the move on the right, Phil Foden ghosted into the area to get on the end of a low cross from the left by Bernardo Silva, with the Stockport-born midfielder firing a first-time effort past David de Gea for his first ever goal in the derby.
City were thoroughly dominant during the first half, and they deservedly bagged their second of the afternoon in the 34th minute through that man, Erling Haaland. With Raphael Varane off the pitch after picking up a knock, the Norwegian took advantage of some slack marking to thunder home a header that was confirmed by the Goal Decision System.
Three minutes later and the 22-year-old netted his second, City carving United’s midfield open before Kevin de Bruyne put in one of his sumptuous trademark crosses from an inside-right position. The Belgian’s ball was played in between defence and goalkeeper, with Haaland stretching to meet the ball and fire home his 16th of the season.
For the second time this season, Manchester United found themselves trailing by four at half time as City scored a sublime goal. De Bruyne picked the ball up in behind United’s seemingly non-existent midfield, before laying the ball off to Haaland on the left. Despite the prospect of securing a third successive home hat-trick, the striker played the ball across goal to pick out Foden at the back post who made no mistake for his second of the afternoon.
Manchester United did show some improvement after the interval – to be honest, they couldn’t have gotten much worse in possession – and 11 minutes into the second half, new boy Antony scored a superb curling effort from 25 yards out.
However, in the 65th minute, City reestablished their four-goal advantage through, yep, you guessed it, Erling Haaland. De Bruyne was once again involved in the buildup as he laid it off to Sergio Gomez, before the summer signing drilled the ball into the City talisman who absolutely smashed home.
5 – Erling Haaland had a hand in five of Manchester City's six goals against Manchester United today (3 goals, 2 assists), the most goal involvements by a player in a single Premier League Manchester derby. Sensational. pic.twitter.com/FqGeCo3YGb
— OptaJoe (@OptaJoe) October 2, 2022
It was 6-1 with 17 minutes still to play, Haaland slipping the ball into the path of Foden, who took a touch before lashing home from the edge of the area to complete his first hat-trick for his boyhood club.
United did pull a couple back in the closing stages, Ederson parrying a close-range shot from Fred that fell invitingly for Anthony Martial who nodded into an empty net.
Martial then bagged a second as he despatched an un-saveable 90th-minute penalty into the top corner after he had been brought down by Joao Cancelo just inside the area.
Speaking afterwards, Haaland – who already has 17 goals in all competitions for City this season – ominously admitted that his side need to be better after conceding three in the second half.
“It could’ve been more and in the second half we should’ve been tighter, worked a bit harder, because it was a bit sloppy at times,” he told BBC Match of the Day. “We lost the second half and this is not good so we still have to work.”
The former Dortmund man said he felt that ‘something special’ would happen in his first Manchester derby.
“It’s been good, I felt it a little bit before the game that something special is going to happen and we saw today that some special things happened. It was nice.
“On Friday I felt it in the whole training ground. It’s these games I want to play in. These are the best games where there’s a bit extra.
“Confidence is good, it’s always been good. After we played against Liverpool in the Community Shield it was still good after. I think it was good that match happened, that something happened and [I thought] I have to be a bit more ready. ”
