Only a 15-minute discussion was enough for Manchester United game: Kevin de Bruyne
Manchester City are going to step into the second leg of the Carabao Cup semi-finals with an advantage after defeating Manchester United 3-1 at Old Trafford.
Bernardo Silva, Riyad Mahrez and an own goal from Andreas Pereira sealed the victory for the Citizens, while Marcus Rashford grabbed a second-half consolation goal for the hosts in his first game for United as a captain.
The reigning Premier League champions faced no difficulty in crushing the city rivals. The Manchester City midfielder, Kevin De Bruyne revealed that Pep Guardiola planned for the first leg against the Red Devils in just 15 minutes.
According to the Belgian, the side got a minimal brief as they trained the day before the game but the tactics were barely mentioned.
As quoted by the Guardian, De Bruyne said," We did 15 minutes this morning. That's about it, but it's not like we never did it before. We did it already against teams who prefer to play man against man- Cardiff, United and I think Barcelona. So we've done it a couple of times."
"I think overall we played well. Even the second half they tried to put us under a little bit more pressure and we made one mistake and they got a goal out of it but I don't think they had a lot of chances."
City tasted defeat in their last PL league meeting against United in December but the Citizens have won on the last seven of their last ten trips to Old Trafford. The Citizens could've had an even greater lead had they not spurned a number of good opportunities, with Raheem Sterling guilty of not being clinical in front of goal.
De Bruyne also added that they could have done more. He admitted," I think we should have scored more today but in the end 3-1 is a good advantage. And we know it's not over but it was a good game for us."
He also mentioned that City were more in defensive shape. The Belgian accepted that City leave a lot of space behind when they are attacking and also spoke about the defending and reducing United's counter-attacks.
Featured image credits- squawka.com
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