Pep Guardiola admits ‘better team won’ Manchester Derby | OneFootball

Pep Guardiola admits ‘better team won’ Manchester Derby | OneFootball

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The Football Faithful

·17 January 2026

Pep Guardiola admits ‘better team won’ Manchester Derby

Article image:Pep Guardiola admits ‘better team won’ Manchester Derby

Pep Guardiola admitted that Man Utd were deserving winners over Man City in the Manchester Derby on Saturday afternoon. 

Bryan Mbeumo and Patrick Dorgu both scored in the second half to complete a shock victory over their local rivals at Old Trafford in the Premier League.


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City have failed to beat United in three of their last four league meetings and have not beaten the Red Devils away from home since October 2023.

Pep Guardiola admits ‘better team won’ Manchester Derby

Guardiola was magnanimous after the defeat, telling Sky Sports: “The better team won. They were better. When a team is better you have to accept it. They had the energy we didn’t have, so congratulations.

“They had the chances at the end and of course the goals we conceded were poorly. We didn’t control but in general we can talk about this action or that action. We have the duty to analyse the game in general and they were better.”

The Old Trafford crowd were louder than normal as United gave them more reasons to cheer than usual this season, outplaying City throughout the derby.


“They started really strong, we lost one or two balls,” Guardiola added. “The crowd is normal, because it is a derby. In many years they have been behind them and also with the new manager it is normal these kind of things in the game.

“We never made a threat or a cross or a movement to try and win that. It is also part of the energy, win or lose it is about what we do with the ball as well, not just without.

“It is not about one player.”

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