Old Trafford turns blue as Manchester City take advantage in the Carabao Cup semis

Old Trafford, the 'Theatre of Dreams' saw a dreadful performance by the home team as they lost 3-1 in the Manchester derby. 

The likes of Manchester legends such as Wayne Rooney, Ryan Giggs and Sir Alex Ferguson were also there in attendance and they wouldn't like what they saw.

Solskjaer made more than five changes in the starting 11 from the one which played the FA Cup tie against Wolves.

Pep Guardiola was questioned about benching both Sergio Aguero and Gabriel Jesus but this tactical move from the Spaniard took the game away from United.

Instead of playing a striker, Pep crowded City's midfield, which helped them offensively as well as defensively. This caused Manchester United tremendous problems as they were set up in a 4-2-3-1 formation.

After a few United half-chances, Manchester City opened the scoring via Bernardo Silva, who smacked the ball sweetly, beating David De Gea comfortably in the 17th minute of the game.

Conceding a goal at home just after 17 minutes hurt a lot of Manchester players as they started to put more pressure but a poor headed clearance from Victor Lindelof helped Bernardo Silva to lay a through ball in the gap.

It was then carried by Riyad Mahrez, who was in a one versus one situation with the United number one and scored convincingly.

In the 39th minute, that is six minutes after the second goal, Manchester United were caught in possession again and City, ruthless on the counter, again seized on the opportunity with both hands.

A Kevin De Bruyne shot that was well saved by De Gea deflected back in the net as Andreas Pereira rushed in to do his defensive duties.

The second half began with the introduction of Matic to United's midfield to cut the tactical advantage City had in the opening half.

City were still robust and created more clear cut chances in the second half. Raheem Sterling, who is yet to score against Manchester United had multiple chances but failed to capitalize on them.

However, United were not completely out of the game, courtesy of a misplaced pass by De Bruyne, which was snatched  by Mason Greenwood, who then fed it to Rashford.

The reverse fixture at Etihad will be an interesting one with United hoping to be at their best as the three away goals conceded at home will be on their mind and they would be on the look out for revenge.

Featured image credits- Evening Standard