Manchester: The exciting Manchester Derby ended in a not-so-exciting fashion as Manchester United drew 0-0 with Manchester City at the Old Trafford stadium in Manchester on Saturday. Both the teams failed to find the back of the net in the fixture while keeping their defence tight.
From the very first whistle, it was Manchester City who were having the most of the possession on the ball. After a scratchy first 30 minutes, a clear-cut chance for the visitors came when Gabriel Jesus started a counter-attack by picking the ball up in the midfield and driving towards the box to pass it to Kevin De Bruyne who put Riyad Mahrez in a goalscoring position but he failed to capitalise before ending first half in a mute manner.
It was clear that without the spectators it was missing the flaming atmosphere that is typically associated with this fixture.
In the second half, United had their chance when Marcus Rashford was taken down in the box by Kyle Walker but VAR declared that the forward was offside. Both the sides were spreading passes but it was their defensive prowess which was in great form restricting each other’s attacking firepowers. United’s Luke Shaw had a good game while City’s Ruben Dias showed a few glimpses of his abilities along with John Stones who also put an excellent performance.
It was as if both the managers were acting very cautious in their approach towards this game and that was evidently felt throughout the match as despite stringing passes and creating chances neither the side broke the deadlock ending the game 0-0 and sharing the points.
City will host West Bromwich Albion on December 16 while the Red Devils will play Sheffield United away on December 18.
