Pep Guardiola aims dig at Cristiano Ronaldo after Man City dismiss Man Utd

Pep Guardiola was impressed with Manchester United’s aggression in the first half of the clash with Manchester City on Sunday, saying it is something they can do as Cristiano Ronaldo was missing.

Things ended badly for them, but United competed well with City in the first half at the Etihad, going in at the break 2-1 down but creating plenty of chances against the champions..

Ronaldo was not involved on Sunday due to a hip problem, but Guardiola believes this could have been a blessing in disguise in terms of being able to press and show aggression.

‘They make a 4-2-4, so aggressive for the mentality for Ralf. Without Cristiano they can do it,’ said Guardiola after the match. ‘They were incredibly aggressive and we struggled to deal with that.

‘I’d say in the first half we had more chances with the counter-attack than with possession.’

Things went badly wrong in the second half for the Red Devils, with City dominating possession and scoring twice more as they cantered to a 4-1 victory.

Guardiola felt that they clearly showed fatigue after the interval, saying that the aggression showed in the first half cost them in the second period.

‘The first half they had more energy than the first half and the second half when they struggled to press it was the consequence of the first,’ said the Spaniard.

United manager Ralf Rangnick was pleased with his side’s first half display, but admitted that City’s third goal – which came in the 68th minute – killed them off.

‘I think we played a good, if not decent first half,’ he said. We were competitive. Difficult to concede an early goal. We came back, scored a brilliant goal ourselves then conceded another on the counter.

‘It was a very difficult game against one of the best teams in the world. We conceded a fourth in the last minute of the game. It is a difficult game that shows we have a long way to go to close that gap.

‘It was working. For us it was clear if we want a chance to win the game we have to do a lot of running. You have to be in attacking and hunting mode and we did that in the first half. The third goal killed us off in the end.’

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