EPL: First blood to Guardiola as Man City win derby against Man United
MANCHESTER: Pep Guardiola savoured a derby success over arch-rival Jose Mourinho as Manchester City beat Manchester United 2-1 in an engrossing Premier League clash.
First-half goals by Kevin De Bruyne and Kelechi Iheanacho put City in control and despite new goalkeeper Claudio Bravo's gaffe allowing Zlatan Ibrahimovic to hit back for United, City held firm.
It was the first encounter between Guardiola and Mourinho, former El Clasico sparring partners, since 2013 and gave the former Barcelona coach an eighth win in 17 encounters with the ex-Real Madrid manager.
City's win, their 50th in competitive derby matches, saw them end United's perfect start to the season.
It left Guardiola's side and Chelsea, who visit Swansea City on Sunday, as the only teams in the Premier League with 100 percent records.
The United manager made two surprising changes to his team, awarding Henrikh Mkhitaryan his full debut and bringing in Jesse Lingard in place of Anthony Martial and Juan Mata.
But it was a move that backfired as City immediately took a grip on the game and went ahead in the 15th minute.
De Bruyne scored the first goal for City as he beat Daley Blind to the ball before clinically wrong-footing David de Gea. Iheanacho doubled the lead as he flicked in Aleksandar Kolarov's high ball.
Mourinho wore a face of thunder on the touchline, but Bravo gifted his side a lifeline three minutes before half-time.
Claudio Bravo gifted a lifeline to Manchester United. (Photo: Twitter)
The Chilean allowed Rooney's deep free-kick to slip from his grasp and Ibrahimovic produced an athletic volley to spear the loose ball into the net.
Mourinho repaired his error at half-time, introducing Ander Herrera and Marcus Rashford for Mkhitaryan and Lingard.
Bravo's jitteriness gave the home fans renewed belief and he was extremely fortunate to avoid conceding a penalty in the 56th minute. In turning away from Ibrahimovic, he overran the ball and launched himself into a lunging challenge on Rooney. The Manchester United Captain was left writhing in pain, but Clattenburg waved play on, apparently deeming Bravo to have won the ball cleanly.
Guardiola responded to Mourinho's changes by bolstering his own midfield, with Fernando and debutant Leroy Sane coming on and De Bruyne taking up a center forward role.
A beautifully poised game swung from end to end thereafter. United had a goal disallowed when Rashford's shot clipped Ibrahimovic, who was standing in an offside position, and beat Bravo.
De Gea then saved in quick succession from Fernandinho, Nicolas Otamendi and Fernando, before Sane teed up De Bruyne for a shot that hit the right-hand post and rolled across the goal.
The hosts procured one last chance, but Ibrahimovic's stoppage-time shot was deflected just wide.
