Manchester United teenager Marcus Rashford wrote another chapter in his fairytale introduction to top-flight football, scoring a brilliant goal to secure a 1-0 win in his first derby match against Manchester City on Sunday.
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Sunday’s 1-0 home defeat in the Manchester derby means that rivals United, along with West Ham, are now just one point behind City in the race for a coveted Champions League spot.
Regarding United’s chase for a Champions League finish, Van Gaal was happy that his players now have more control over the situation with eight fixtures remaining in the 2015/16 season. “I think all of us should enjoy the good moments”. He can make goals but he’s also an attacking point and he also runs the channels. We played well and won, so that got a bit of coverage.
City were missing defensive duo Vincent Kompany and Nicolas Otamendi and Rashford gave stand-in centre-back Martin Demichelis a torrid time, streaking past him to score the game’s only goal.
This will go down as Smalling’s “breakthrough season ” , says Alan Smith of the Daily Telegraph”.
“Pep Guardiola faces the possibility of managing Manchester City in the Europa League”, warns The Times.
“I think we have to help the referee with a video referee, I have been saying that already for 20 years”.
“Yeah, I had to back him up didn’t I?”, he said.
“Both of them have muscle injuries”, City boss Pellegrini said.
“Of course it’s not the best way to finish the season, but I am happy with the attitude”.
Pellegrini, who walked out of his TV interview, struck an understandably frustrated figure in the post-match press conference, having seen City’s title hopes extinguished as United moved to within a point of them in fourth.
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“We played a very good first half with a goal and also had more chances and we didn’t receive a lot of chances against us”, he told Sky Sports. “If you see the attitude of the team today, it reflects that we are involved in what we want to do”.
