Under the watchful eye, the referee blew the whistle and the game began!

Old Trafford stadium cheers!

The voice is red!

Old Trafford, no matter how you have to suppress the blue color!

Especially in the opening stages, Manchester City kicked off first, and when they passed continuously, the United players grabbed very fiercely.

Dominated by players such as Matic and Rooney, they are almost ruthless tackles at any cost.

In the opening three minutes, the referee's whistle blew four times and the United players were warned twice.

Despite this, they are fierce defensively.

This is Mourinho's pre-match arrangement.

Against Pep Guardiola's team, he has a lot of experience.

It's just one word - dry!

Don't be soft!

As long as it gets hard, as long as it does it, you can cut off their little technical passing routes!

Then a quick counterattack with a fatal blow!

With Mourinho in mind, Manchester United pressed very fiercely in the opening stages.

Even Xia Xing has become a defensive machine running all over the field.

This kind of defensive style has indeed made Manchester City suffer a lot.

The ball was cut off one after another, and the passes in the opening five minutes or so were rarely effective in front of goal.

But if City's attack can be neutralized so easily, then they are not Manchester City.

Soon, Guardiola adjusted his tactics.

From the combination of short passes with multiple feet in a row, to the concise handling in front of goal!

The continuous cooperation of more than ten feet before, now three passes and two deliveries, directly choose to attack!

And this change has caused Manchester United to run into problems.

In the 7th minute of the game, Manchester City's front court cooperated, and David Silva passed diagonally into the penalty area!

Gabriel Jesus catches the ball!

Kick and shoot!

The ball was punched out by De Gea!

I didn't score, but it was dangerous!

Three minutes later, this time it was De Bruyne!

His long ball from the right found Raheem Sterling in front of the box!

Raheem Sterling shoots!

The ball slides out of the goal!

Manchester United escaped again!

Two consecutive strikes lifted the spirits of the City fans in the stands.

Their cheers gradually resounded through the stadium.

Mourinho frowned on the sidelines.

Trouble.

Guardiola, this bald man, is really a ghost.

The two passes just now were gaps in Manchester United's defence.

Although both teams are strong, they are different.

Manchester City's three lines are balanced in strength and have no obvious shortcomings.

Manchester United's midfield is obviously strong, and the goalkeeper is also the top in the Premier League, but the defender is average.

The back four of Ashley Young, Smalling, Marcos Rojo and Valencia are all Premier League level players.

Not even at the top level of the Premier League.

Smalling is slow to turn, Rojo doesn't have a high ceiling, and Ashley Young and Valencia are both scrappy and technically rough types.

This is more than a notch worse than Manchester City.

Manchester City's world-class centre-back Vincent Kompany alone is one position ahead of Manchester United's defenders.

So Pep Guardiola saw that the team's short pass was in trouble, so he simply passed through quickly and looked for a scoring opportunity.

Sure enough, in front of Manchester City's world-class midfielder passes, Manchester United's defenders were under extreme pressure and made mistakes in a row.

In the 14th minute of the game, Manchester City finally got what they wanted.

A cooperation in the frontcourt, this time it is still David Silva's cross!

Pass to the front point on the left and look for Sane!

Sane, who dribbles well, catches the ball and sprints quickly!

The moment the ball was stopped, with a slight stab, the ball passed past Valencia!

Go around to catch the ball and rush to the baseline!

Bottom cross!

Jesus in front of the door quickly stepped forward!

Get in front of Smalling and shoot quickly!

Insert the ball into the net!

"1 to 0!

"Man City scored the first goal!

"Wonderful!

"This combination broke through the Manchester United defence!

"He's too weak defensively!

"It's really weak!

'David Silva's pass was just right, Sane's dribbling and passing was fantastic!

Jesus' quick forward cut left the tall but slow Smalling powerless!

"There's no way to shoot so closely, it's as strong as De Gea!

'Manchester City scored a crucial goal!

"They've got the lead in this derby!"

Scoring the first goal, Manchester City is indeed much more stable.

Next, their offense was more adequate.

However, Mourinho has already developed a strategy to deal with it.

Defending is not good, and this has always been Mourinho's concern for Manchester United.

So he always wanted to continue to strengthen the defence, but the club was not very supportive.

Otherwise, maybe he has already finalized Van Dijk in advance.

But even so, he was not out of options.

In the case of insufficient defensive strength, the midfield's assistance is particularly important.

In this game, Nemanja Matic is in the midfield position, and Xia Xing is in charge on the left side.

Mourinho shouted loudly, and the two were ordered to protect the defence.

In the next period of time, Xia Xing and Pogba temporarily swapped positions, forming a double midfield combination with Nemanja Matic.

In this way, the team's defense takes effect immediately!

Against a strong Nemanja Matic, the City players wanted to take a detour.

His defense was too fierce and his confrontation was too strong.

In the face of Xia Xing's defense, Manchester City players are even more helpless.

From the beginning to the present, no Manchester City attacking player has bargained in front of Xia Xing.

This guy is amazing!

Pep Guardiola on the sidelines couldn't stop admiring.

If I had been given another xia, I would have been able to lead Manchester City to the Champions League!

But he also knew that it was impossible.

How could a Manchester United academy player join Manchester City.

So you can only be greedy.

And then, what made him even more greedy came.

In the 25th minute of the game, after withstanding Manchester City's continuous onslaught, Manchester United finally found a good opportunity.

It's not that there weren't chances just now, and United had a couple of goal-threatening shots just now.

However, in the end, they failed to score.

And now this time, the opportunity is good!

Rashford stepped forward with the ball and was directly cut off by Fernandinho!

This time the defense is important!

Manchester United's attack that has just started came to an abrupt end!

Manchester City's attack is on!

Fernandinho's quick diagonal pass goes straight to the left winger!

Find winger Leroy Sane!

Sergio Aguero had just recovered from injury and Pep Guardiola did not start him, giving Sane a chance.

The German dribbling genius accelerates along the left side with the ball and suddenly cuts in!

He got past Nemanja Matic!

But just as he continued to move forward, Xia Xing quickly appeared in front of him!

Facing Sane, Xia Xing did not hesitate and went directly to his body!

A head-on rush that knocked the German striker flying!

The ball is back at the feet of the United players again!

Xia Xing did not hesitate to move quickly!

The ball is at the feet of Marcus Rashford again!

Now the scene has taken a 180-degree reversal again!

Now Manchester City are pressing, and it's their turn to defend the air!

And Rashford, who just conceded the goal and didn't have time to retreat, has an excellent opportunity at the moment!

After receiving Xia Xing's pass, he sprinted quickly!

In the face of Kompany's defense, get up and shoot early!

The ball goes straight into the far corner of the goal!

1 to 1!

Between offense and defense!

Manchester United stubbornly equalised! (End of chapter)