A LOOK BACK: Manchester United and Manchester City played out a particularly heated battle in late 2017 that led to some pretty unsavoury post-match scenes
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There is certainly no love lost between Manchester City and Manchester United, with the two neighbours engaging in a number of fierce battles down the years.
One of the more fiery exchanges came back in 2017 when Pep Guardiola’s side made the short trip to Old Trafford aiming to extend their lead at the top of the Premier League at the expense of their most fierce rivals. While the football played was interesting enough, much of the post-match discourse centred around off-pitch bust-ups between the two enemies.
Mirror Football has opted to cast minds back to the intense evening, one which saw then-United boss Jose Mourinho have milk thrown at him while then-City assistant and now Arsenal boss Mikel Arteta was struck on the head with a bottle.
The match
Nicolas Otamendi scored the winner for City at rivals United
Going into the game, both sides knew the result would seriously shape the title race for the remainder of the 2017/18 campaign. It was the visitors who struck first when mercurial midfielder David Silva put City in front two minutes before the interval.
However, they failed to see the half-time whistle without conceding as United responded almost instantly via a Marcus Rashford strike and the honours remained even at half-time.
However, whatever Guardiola told his players during that break clearly worked as Nicolas Otamendi put City back in front just nine minutes into the second half. United huffed and puffed for a second equaliser but fell short, which in turn meant City extended their lead at the top to 11 points, all but ending the title race as a contest.
It was one for the record books, with City ending United’s remarkable 40-match unbeaten run on their home turf while also ensuring Guardiola’s men became the first team in English top-flight history to win 14 successive games.
The two managers shook hands at full-time but headed in opposite directions as Mourinho made his way down the tunnel while Guardiola went onto the pitch to celebrate with his players.
City’s celebrations irk hosts
Manchester City players celebrated in the away dressing room (
Image:
Twitter/@Notamendi30)
United’s players had long been in their home dressing room by the time the City squad made their way back, but the visitors made sure to gloat accordingly. Shot-stopper Ederson uploaded a snap of him smiling next to the Red Devils crest.
While Kyle Walker was throwing up the ‘2-1’ gesture, music was blaring from the away dressing room while one member of the City entourage even threw out ticker tape as the players posed for pictures.
This seriously got under the skin of Mourinho, who opted to delay his own post-match media duties to go and complain to City about the noise they were producing. He did so in typical Mourinho style, striding towards the open door leading to the visitors’ dressing room and demanding they: “Show some more respect”.
The fall-out
As expected, Mourinho’s blast riled the City squad and the ‘special one’ was subsequently sprayed with water and struck with a plastic bottle. It is well-documented that a carton of milk was also launched in his direction, but missed the United boss and covered one of his members of staff instead.
Not one to shy away from a confrontation, Ederson was quick to defend his team and is alleged to have grabbed Mourinho by the arm and screamed: “You f** show respect. Who are you?”, it is believed a melee then ensued as other United players jumped in to defend their manager.
Ederson confronted Mourinho after the game (
Image:
GETTY)
While no punches are reported to have been thrown, one high-profile figure was left injured as a result of the scrap. Arteta, at the time Guardiola’s right-hand man, was hit in the face with a plastic bottle, which left him bleeding from his head.
Romelu Lukaku was alleged to have been the one to throw the bottle, but that claim was never proven. Reports are mixed over how the bust-up actually ended, with some suggesting police were called while others insist it fizzled out on its own.
Guardiola addressed the ugly scenes during his media obligations, explaining: “What happened in the locker room happened. Hopefully, it is never going to happen again.
“If we were not correct then I apologise to Manchester United. But our intention was not that – it was to celebrate inside the locker room and if people cannot understand that, I’m sorry, we won a derby.
“If we offended United then I apologise but sometimes United have made a lot of celebrations in the past over City.”
Mourinho was far less gracious, accusing one journalist that asked him about the incident of working for another club while also declaring his players acted in the right way.
