Derby delight for City after Foden strike and Haaland double

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Manchester City F.C.

·14 de setembro de 2025

Derby delight for City after Foden strike and Haaland double

City enjoyed another brilliant derby day victory as goals from Phil Foden and two from Erling Haaland saw us triumph 3-0 over Manchester United.

Foden scored a superb header to put us ahead in the 18th minute rounding off the first of two assists from Jeremy Doku.

Vídeos OneFootball

City’s Belgian winger then played in Haaland for City’s second, before the striker from his own half to score our third – also hitting the post in between.

The 197th Manchester derby also saw new goalkeeper Gianluigi Donnarumma make his first City start, making one outstanding save to ensure it was a goalless debut.

The Game in 250 words

City swarmed all over United from the kick-off with Haaland firing a shot just off-target inside 15 seconds.

It was a typically frenetic derby opening at high pace in the Manchester drizzle, with Donnarumma getting an early touch as he kept out Benjamin Sesko’s long range strike.

Amid the chaos, it was Doku who found the composure to create City’s opener, driving at the United defence and picking out Foden to head us in front.

Not that it was the easiest finishes, but the Stockport-born star superbly arched his neck to power a header beyond United keeper Altay Bayindir.

Doku then found Tijjani Reijnders with an incisive cutback and the Dutchman’s snapshot was hit powerfully into the chest of Bayadanir while Nico O’Reilly wayward with a long-range attempt.

United tried to get a quick response with a series of crosses and it was Haaland who was standing tallest to head them clear.

And not long after the City striker made his mark at the other end of the pitch, rounding off a delicious move with a sweet finish. Started by Nico O’Reilly’s audacious nutmeg, Haaland lifted the ball over Bayindir after perfect touches from Foden and Doku cut open the United defence.

He almost had a third moments later when City’s high press forced United to give the ball away and after taking the ball around the keeper, his shot somehow screwed against the inside of the post.

It would have killed the game and United were almost back in the match with a fierce Bryan Mbuemo volley that brought an outstanding save from Donnarumma.

And Haaland wasn’t going to miss a second chance to end United’s hopes and when he raced onto Bernardo’s pass from his own half, he coolly slotted the ball past Bayandir.

Reijnders was just off target late on as City tried to make it an even more painful trip across Manchester for the visitors.

Player of the match

Haaland took great form into the Manchester derby and maintained that momentum with a wonderful display.

After five goals in Norway’s win over Moldova in midweek, he took over at the top of the Premier League goalscoring charts with his fourth and fifth strikes in four matches.

With 11 goal involvements in Manchester derbies, only Ryan Giggs with 13 has more, although that record came from 23 more games.

And he now has 50 home goals from 50 Premier League appearances with only Alan Shearer reaching the milestone quicker.

Gigi, take a bow

Donnarumma became just the eighth City player to make his Premier League bow in a Manchester derby and the third goalkeeper after Andreas Isaksson in 2006 and Claudio Bravo in 2016.

The Italian had already made some notable debuts, making his first appearance for former club AC Milan aged just 16 and then for his country as a 17-year-old.

Still a Manchester derby can bring unique pressures and he got an early touch of the ball with a smart save from Sesko.

And he showed no fear with the ball at his feet or punching away or claiming crosses that were thrown into the City box.

But his biggest moment came just after the hour when Mbuemo smashed a superb volley and Donnarumma leapt at full-stretch to turn his goalbound effort around the post.

HOMEGROWN HEROES

It was another proud day for our Academy with seven homegrown players in our 18-man matchday squad.

Foden returned for his 321st appearance in a City shirt and, along with Erling Haaland, had more goals than any other player on the pitch in derbies at kick-off, and took his total to seven by the full-time whistle.

The Stockport-born midfielder was joined in the starting XI by Nico O’Reilly as he continues his impressive rise after making his debut against United in the Community Shield little more than 12 months ago.

We also had five more players that have come through the Academy on the bench.

James Trafford, Oscar Bobb and Rico Lewis have already featured for Guardiola’s side this season and were joined by teenagers Stephen Mfuni and Divine Mukasa.

TEAM SHEETS

CITY: Donnarumma, Khusanov, Dias, Gvardiol, O’Reilly, Rodri (Nico 76), Bernardo (Ake 88), Reijnders, Foden, Doku (Savinho 77), Haaland (Bobb 87)

Subs not used: Trafford, Nunes, Mukasa, Lewis, Mfuni

UNITED: Bayindir, Mazraoui (Mainoo 62), De Ligt, Yoro (Maguire 62), Shaw, Dorgu, Ugarte (Zirkzee 80), Fernandes, Mbeumo, Amad, Sesko (Casemiro 80).

Subs not used: Heaton, Lammens, Fredricson, Heaven, Leon.

GUARdiola REACTION

"We are in a situation with a start we didn't expect and of course our opponents are so strong. We want to be close and still fighting for titles.

"The spirit was great, our players have a lot of pride and they want to try to do better on a special day. We saw our fans so happy and that is our job, so, so privileged.

"We have many things to improve. We are not yet a team but step by step. The victory helps us a lot. In the games we have had a lot of momentum and others not enough.

"[Manchester United] have fantastic players and I know here we struggle against them, we have more better results at Old Trafford."

HAALAND REACTION

"You could feel it as well from the fans, we needed this. You always want to win the derby but you could feel it extra today. I'm so relieved, so happy we managed to do it altogether. We have to keep going. Today we're super happy.

"This is the Phil [Foden] we need. City were waiting for this and we are going to help him as much as we can to make him as good as he was the season before last."