“It was about being in the right place at the right time”, he added.
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Manchester City manager Pep Guardiola revealed his decision to start Kelechi Iheanacho in the derby came down to sending a message to his players about his intentions at Old Trafford.
But other aspects of his performance let him down – notably when he dropped a free kick to the feet of Zlatan Ibrahimovic, who volleyed home the loose ball to bring United back into a game it had started so poorly.
And the 33-year-old continued to threaten to undermine his new team-mates’ efforts, most notably when a heavy touch forced him to make a unsafe tackle on United skipper Wayne Rooney inside his own penalty area.
He later lunged at Wayne Rooney after turning into danger in his own box – an incident that prompted no action from referee Mark Clattenburg, but which United boss Jose Mourinho after the game argued merited a penalty and Bravo being sent off.
“I didn’t come here to see about the rivalry”, Guardiola said.
It was an act of straw-clutching, although the Portuguese fully accepted City’s first-half superiority when he admitted he and his players got it wrong. We didn’t get what we deserve.
“First of all, he’s 18, he’s still young”. We talked before the game about how many people would be watching this.
‘It was a penalty and a red card for (Claudio) Bravo. Inside the box, it is more hard. We are playing well but we need more in the forward areas. Every duel went for them. I like the keepers to attack the ball and after what happened, in the second half he continued to play and that’s a good thing about his personality.
Jose Mourinho may well be waking up this morning thinking “I wish I had started Marcus Rashford“. And when I see him, I say “wow – this guy can play” because he’s training like Vincent is. The first arm is the one that is close to his body. But, except for one or two from Kevin [De Bruyne], we didn’t finish.
“But we were also punished by our very bad first half and that’s football”. In football, it’s about how you react to mistakes – it shows character.
The United manager hauled off Henrikh Mkhitaryan and Jesse Lingard at half-time and said it was only because he did not want to “destroy them” that he did not substitute them earlier.
Ibrahimovic’s current contract is for 12 months with an option to extend for another year, but it’s now suggested that he could be offered the chance to pen a three-year extension which will take him past his 38th birthday.
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Mourinho wore a face of thunder on the touchline, but Bravo gave his side a lifeline three minutes before half-time. Roberto Firmino scored twice while Sadio Mane and Adam Lallana also scored at Anfield, which hosted its first game of the season following the completion of work to expand the club’s main stand.
