{"id":769790,"date":"2026-09-13T22:58:19","date_gmt":"2026-09-13T22:58:19","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/769790\/"},"modified":"2026-09-13T22:58:19","modified_gmt":"2026-09-13T22:58:19","slug":"manchester-city-recover-from-foden-red-card-as-haaland-wins-derby-at-united-premier-league","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/769790\/","title":{"rendered":"Manchester City recover from Foden red card as Haaland wins derby at United | Premier League"},"content":{"rendered":"

\u201cEnzo, Enzo, Enzo, in your head\u201d was how delirious Manchester City<\/a> fans regaled Enzo Fern\u00e1ndez, who after a star role in a memorable victory has instant cult hero status.<\/p>\n

This 199th derby was won by Erling Haaland\u2019s ninth strike in the fixture but the visitors\u2019 totem was their new No 17. He was the key nuisance in a goal ruled out initially for offside and which the video assistant referee overturned when ruling that Fern\u00e1ndez was not distracting Lisandro Mart\u00ednez when Josko Gvardiol\u2019s ball came over. Pro Ref later made contact with United to acknowledge an \u201cerror of judgment\u201d in allowing the goal to stand.<\/p>\n

Fern\u00e1ndez was an emblem of the fight Maresca\u2019s team carried to Manchester United<\/a> after Phil Foden appeared to turn the game the hosts\u2019 way on 23 minutes. As he and Bruno Fernandes challenged along City\u2019s right the forward kicked United\u2019s captain around the midriff and Michael Oliver showed a red card, VAR backing the referee\u2019s instantaneous decision.<\/p>\n

Except, down to 10 men, Enzo Maresca refused to go for the draw, by shutting the back door with a defender for a more attacking player, until late on, after Haaland\u2019s finish \u2013 when Nico O\u2019Reilly replaced Fern\u00e1ndez to help see it out.<\/p>\n

City, surely looking at film of the 2-0 defeat here<\/a> in January, wanted a quick start and not to be knocked off the ball as they were in Michael Carrick\u2019s first game in charge of United. Antoine Semenyo led the charge, losing a tussle with Diogo Dalot before recovering and dispossessing the right-back.<\/p>\n

Toe\u2011to\u2011toe was an apt characterisation of the contest, as Carrick had Matheus Cunha switching from his false No 9 berth with Marcus Rashford on the left, and Maresca instructed Fern\u00e1ndez to drift away from his midfield partner, Elliot Anderson, out wide.<\/p>\n

Phil Foden remonstrates with Michael Oliver after being shown a red card. Photograph: Tom Jenkins\/The Guardian<\/p>\n

Having Haaland galloping towards goal is a key City tactic, and when he did a sixth goal in four games beckoned but hesitation cost the striker, as Dalot went close to suffering for the same fault: he was unsure under a high ball and Semenyo, lurking, nearly profited.<\/p>\n

Now came Foden\u2019s folly \u2013 an act that will have infuriated Maresca and most of a City stripe. Fernandes may have made contact with a boot first, but in no way as forcefully as Foden. Maresca agreed it was a red card but also wanted one for the Portugeuse.<\/p>\n

City were in a classic twist or stick predicament. A draw was no disaster but finding a way to take the lead would bring with it a famous \u2013 and morale\u2011rocketing \u2013 result. When Haaland swooped forward and bent a pass into Rayan Cherki \u2013 moved from the No 10 slot to Foden\u2019s on the right \u2013 you saw why Maresca had decided to twist.<\/p>\n

The Italian\u2019s ambition was admirable \u2013 as long as United were kept out. Carrick\u2019s team knew this, too, so composure was required, not the wildness that had Fernandes overhitting a simple cross that should have found Rashford ready to pull the trigger.<\/p>\n

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Harry Maguire\u2019s tilt for glory from 25 yards that smacked into a colleague was also amateurish, but as the break neared Rashford\u2019s effort was better. A 20-yard free\u2011kick beat the wall but not the diving Gianluigi Donnarumma\u2019s right post.<\/p>\n

Maresca\u2019s move for the second half was to remove Cherki for Iliman Ndiaye\u2019s greater pace along the right \u2013 this reinforcing his front\u2011foot mode. Carrick\u2019s instructions had to be simple: go for the jugular and a precious three points that would lift them to fifth, five points behind the leaders, Arsenal. Kobbie Mainoo, anonymous so far, went as close as Rashford when letting fly: again Donnarumma was beaten and again his right post saved City, the rebound hitting the keeper.<\/p>\n

Erling Haaland scores City\u2019s winner, initially ruled out for offside, from a tight angle. Photograph: Adam Vaughan\/EPA<\/p>\n

United were a red rash all over those in blue. Possession was pinballed about, tackles crashed into, as when Patrick Dorgu upended Ndiaye, yet no breakthrough came.<\/p>\n

So City\u2019s smash-and-grab dreams were realised when Haaland found the net. The No 9 celebrated with his sit\u2011down zen-like posture but only after VAR overruled the initial offside call. Gvardiol\u2019s cross from the left hit Dorgu\u2019s foot and continued on, passing a diving Fern\u00e1ndez (who missed contact, the subject of VAR\u2019s scrutiny) and Mart\u00ednez, and Haaland expertly rippled the net.<\/p>\n

A twinkling Maresca riffed on a saying when speaking of the Norwegian\u2019s import. \u201cHappy Erling, happy life. My wife will not be happy,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Carrick replaced Youri Tielemans with Benjamin Sesko as United, desperate, required a goal. It never came \u2013 Mbeumo\u2019s added-time effort was fierce but beaten out by Donnarumma. Haaland said of the City goalkeeper: \u201cThis wolf in goal is giving you so much confidence, he looks a bit like a wolf. He is a mad man but he is a match\u2011winner as well.\u201d<\/p>\n

Fern\u00e1ndez decorated his afternoon with an attempt that clipped Senne Lammens\u2019s left post. At the final whistle, Maresca skipped down the touchline, the victory a triumph of his and the players\u2019 courage.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"\u201cEnzo, Enzo, Enzo, in your head\u201d was how delirious Manchester City fans regaled Enzo Fern\u00e1ndez, who after a…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":769791,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[33],"tags":[218,101,56,54,55],"class_list":["post-769790","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-football","tag-football","tag-sports","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom","tag-unitedkingdom"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/769790","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=769790"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/769790\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/769791"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=769790"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=769790"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=769790"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}