The last five times Man Utd beat Man City – & what happened next for both clubs
Manchester United’s eye-catching 2-1 comeback victory away to their noisy neighbours Manchester City is not the first time that they’ve upset the odds to reign supreme in the Manchester derby.
But what does this win mean? Is it a statement of a changing of the guards? Or just another sucker punch that briefly punctuates City’s imperial era of dominance?
We’ve taken a look at the last five derbies that Manchester United won – and what happened next for both clubs.
Man City 0-1 Man Utd (January 2020)
A win’s a win, but this one didn’t feel much like one. City went into this second leg of the 2019-20 League Cup semis off the back of a 3-1 victory at Old Trafford and booked their place at Wembley after a 1-0 defeat on home soil, in which match-winner Nemanja Matic was dismissed for two bookings.
Pep Guardiola’s men went on to comfortably dispatch Aston Villa in the final, the only silverware they lifted that season, while for United this bittersweet night was at least confidence-boosting evidence they could hold their own…
Man Utd 2-0 Man City (March 2020)
A few short weeks after the relatively meaningless second-leg win in the League Cup, United capped off their best run of form of the Ole Gunnar Solskjaer era with a defensive masterclass in the derby.
United registered just 27% on home soil but kept City at bay, notched more shots and shots on target and won out thanks to goals from Anthony Martial and Scott McTominay.
The result kept United in a distant fifth as the country went into lockdown, but they returned from the three-month hiatus in fine fettle, going unbeaten in the delayed final nine-match stretch to eventually finish in third.
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Man City 0-2 Man Utd (March 2021)
Following Liverpool’s title victory in 2019-20, City actually responded in less than emphatic fashion, winning just five of their opening 13 matches of the behind-closed-doors lockdown season – a run that included a drab and forgettable goalless draw away to United in December.
But Guardiola’s all-conquering juggernaut killed any suggestion of a title race come the rematch in early March, having won 15 Premier League matches in a row in the crucial mid-season period.
That winning run came to an end as Solskjaer’s United producing another counter-attacking clinic at The Etihad, Bruno Fernandes and Luke Shaw scoring early in each half to no reply.
City inevitably won the title with a 12-point margin, but United continued their decent lockdown form to end up as runners-up. It’s probably as good as they’ve been in the post-Fergie era and there weren’t any fans in the stands to see it.
Man Utd 2-1 Man City (January 2023)
There was hope in some quarters that Manchester United could continue their ascent under Solskjaer and close the gap to really challenge City, especially after a fine start to the 2021-22 campaign and the statement-making additions of proven Champions League winners Raphael Varane and Cristiano Ronaldo and long-term target Jadon Sancho.
But Varane struggled with injuries, Sancho never lived up to his billing and while Ronaldo scored goals, he added a dysfunctional element that seemingly hampered the collective effort.
City, meanwhile, continued on their imperial four-in-a-row march, retaining the title by finishing five places and 35 points ahead of United in 2021-22. City’s superiority had been underlined by completing a league double, including a 4-1 mauling at Old Trafford.
United were once again left licking their wounds in Erik ten Hag’s first derby in October 2022, in which both Phil Foden and Erling Haaland scored hat-tricks in a bruising 6-3 ding-dong at the Etihad.
After a sustained period of City rule, United got their revenge with a 2-1 comeback victory at Old Trafford; one very much borne out of the Solskjaer gameplan, with Ten Hag pragmatically ditching his Ajax possession principles to go for a more defensive gameplan.
This was one of the highlights of Ten Hag’s best spell in the job, with consistently good results midway through his debut season ultimately peaking with the League Cup final victory over Newcastle a month later.
The Red Devils struggled to maintain that form in the latter half of the campaign as fanciful talk of a title push fell away, but they still did enough to comfortably secure a respectable third-place finish.
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Man City 1-2 Man Utd (May 2024)
Revenge for defeat at Wembley 12 months prior.
United suffered their lowest-ever Premier League placing – eighth – during the 2023-24 campaign, in which they were roundly beaten home and away via an aggregate 6-1 scoreline in the league. The new perennial champions ended up 31 points clear of their neighbours.
But even in United’s run to their second successive FA Cup final, there was a sense of against-the-odds destiny. They withstood long periods of Liverpool pressure to knock them out with a last-gasp Amad Diallo winner in the quarters, while only a toenail VAR call denied Coventry City a famous four-goal turnaround in the semis.
Input from Jason Wilcox and Darren Fletcher reportedly convinced Ten Hag to ditch his original plan of going toe-to-toe with City, which ultimately worked a treat with Bruno Fernandes deployed as a kind of false nine. Academy graduates Alejandro Garnacho and Kobbie Mainoo helped capitalise on mistakes in a 2-1 victory that denied City the double.
It looked as though United might repeat the trick in the Community Shield rematch, but Bernardo Silva equalised late on before City came out on top on penalties. From there it was back to business as usual as the two city rivals kicked off 2024-25 in wildly divergent styles.
Ten Hag earned a new contract off the back of the FA Cup victory but only remained in the post until October, while City’s almighty mid-season wobble has culminated in them losing another derby. Watch this space for whether Ruben Amorim’s 2-1 victory over Guardiola’s stuttering side signals a sea change.